Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The polls of BHEL Thrift Society may be held after March 31 after the officials manage to finish the production work of BHEL by then, said the election officer Chhavikant Baghmare on Thursday.
The polls for the election of 11 board of directors were previously scheduled to be held on January 8 and then postponed to January 23 as the candidates had failed to file their nominations.
With increasing cases of corona in mid-January, the society had pushed the polls again, without announcing the probable dates.
The polls of the board of directors for the 4,700-member society has been marred in controversy due to frequent blame-game among the major panels and the existing board.
Baghmare told Free Press that according to the bylaws, a new board of directors is elected every five year; the term of the existing board ended on January 12. The president of the board is supposed to seek permission to hold the polls within 90 days of the ending of the term.
If the polls are not held within 90 days, an administrative body is set up and the president no longer has the power to hold the elections, he added.
The outgoing president, Basant Kumar, told Free Press, 'Though the polls have been postponed several times due to different reasons, we cannot hold them at this point of time. It is not at all likely that the management will give us permission for polls unless we reach the production target of BHEL, for which March 31 is the deadline.'
On the other hand, the panels and candidates in fray are seeing the delay as a positive occurrence. The four panels, Pardarshi, Satyamev Jayate, Parivartan and Adarsh, have sped up their outreach, persuading the members to cast their votes in their favour.
Pardarshi panel's Kamlesh Nagpure has collaborated with Gautam Mauke for the polls while Deepak Gupta and Atul Malviya are representing Satyamev Jayate panel.
The national general secretary of All India BHEL Employeesí Union, Ram Narayan Giri and Ashish Soni are in the fray from Parivartan panel.
Adarsh panel are roped in leaders and members of several workers and staff unions of BHEL to fight from their side.
