AITUC wins Singareni recognised trade union elections

Hyderabad, Dec 28:The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the trade union wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), has won the recognised trade union elections in state-run Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL).

Singareni Collieries Workers Union (SCWU), affiliated to the AITUC, has become the recognised union of SCCL.

Though Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), affiliated to the Congress party, bagged six out of 11 divisions, SCWU emerged as the recognised union by polling more votes.

The SCWU defeated the Singareni Coal Mines Labour Union (SCMLU), affiliated to INTUC, by 1,999 votes.

The SCWU polled 16,177 votes in all 11 divisions while SCMLU secured 14,178 votes.

The elections in all 11 divisions were held on Wednesday and the results were announced in the early hours of Thursday after completion of the counting of votes.

Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS), affiliated to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which had won the elections in 2012 and 2017, drew a blank.

INTUC bagged Ramagundam-III, Kothagudem corporate, Kothagudem, Yellandu, Manuguru and Bhupalpally divisions.

AITUC bagged Bellampally, Mandamarri, Srirampur, Ramagundam-I and Ramagundam-II divisions.

In the elections held on Wednesday, out of 39,773 voters, 37,468 cast their votes. The polling percentage was 94.20.

Polling was held in all 11 divisions from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Workers working in 23 underground, 19 opencast mines, GM offices, and Departments in Peddapalli, Kothagudem, Jayashankar-Bhupalpally, Khammam, Mulugu, Mancherial and Asifabad districts besides Hyderabad (corporate office) were eligible to cast their votes

A total of 13 trade unions were in the fray. Ballot papers were used for the polling held at 84 polling booths in all 11 divisions.

The SCCL coal mines are spread over 11 Assembly constituencies in erstwhile Adilabad, Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar districts.

In the recent Assembly elections, the Congress party had won nine seats while its ally CPI had bagged Kothagudem.

BRS, which lost power to the Congress, secured only one seat (Asifabad).

The Singareni trade union elections were originally scheduled on October 28 but the same were postponed to December 27 after the then BRS government moved the High Court seeking postponement in view of Assembly elections.

Though Congress too wanted the trade union elections to be postponed till Lok Sabha polls next year, the High Court last week declined to postpone the elections.

The Singareni trade union elections were last held in 2017. The TBGKS headed by BRS president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha won the polls by bagging nine out of 11 coal mine divisions.