Govt and private teachers spar over voter enrollment for MLC elections

HYDERABAD: Teachers from government schools and private institutions are at loggerheads over the issue of enrollment as voters for the upcoming Teacher MLC election for the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar constituency.
Government teachers have complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that political parties were enrolling bogus voters under the guise of private teachers. Private teachers alleged that government teachers were preventing their enrolment.

For the first time, the ECI has allowed private school teachers —handling Class 8 and above and with a minimum service of three years — to vote in MLC elections.

The Telangana State United Teachers' Federation (TSUTF) has urged Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj to initiate action against DEOs for approving enrollment of private teachers without verification of documents.

TSUTF president K. Jangaiah said that teachers who took up jobs in private schools during the Covid pandemic years — 2020 and 2021 — were being enrolled as voters without any verification. The schools had remained closed because of lockdown and salaries were not paid.

"We demand that the Election Commission, for transparency, mention in the draft rolls the name of the educational institution in which the private teacher works. We demand the EC to order a probe into the racket," Jagaiah said.

Speaking for the other side, S. Srinivas Reddy, representative of TS Recognised Private Schools Managements Association, said, "Government teacher unions are exerting pressure on DEOs not to approve our applications. With this, DEOs are dragging the process under one pretext or the other."