With elections to the Hyderabad Karnataka Education Society (HKES) round the corner, the Bhimashankar C. Bilgundi panel has come up with a set of attractive promises to impress the voters.
At a press conference held here on Tuesday, the panel released a manifesto that included a host of promises that included greater transparency in accounts and finance, completion of pending projects, initiation of new projects, amendment of by-law facilitating women members in the society and introduction of electronic voting machines in the election, upgradation of hostels and hospitals, development of colleges, improvement of education quality and insurance coverage to society members.
“The trust’s administration has collapsed under incumbent president Basavaraj Bhimalli leading to widespread corruption,” Mr. Bilgundi alleged.
B.G. Patil, a BJP leader and member of the Legislative Council, criticised the functioning of the incumbent president. “Most of the decisions are taken by Mr. Bhimalli alone, sidelining the general body. He functions more from home than office. Fed up with his autocratic functioning and preferential treatment, most of the members want to oust him in the next election,” he said.
‘Accessing ballot papers’
Pointing at the disadvantages and misuse of ballot-paper voting, Shashil G. Namoshi, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former president of HKES, alleged that Mr. Bhimalli and his associates had managed to access the ballot papers before destroying them.
“It is a serious breach of trust. Mr. Bhimalli knew exactly who had voted for him and who had voted against him. It is possible only if he had accessed the ballot papers. When some members approached him seeking his help in some cases, he correctly told them that they had not voted for him and he would not extend any help to them,” Mr. Namoshi said. If the Bilgundi panel wins the election, he added, measures would be taken to replace ballot-papers with electronic voting machines that could ensure greater secrecy in the voting process.
“When I was the president of HKES, PDA engineering college had got recognition from National Board of Accreditation thanks to which the college had received Rs. 20 crore TEQIP [Technical Educational Quality Improvement Programme] fund. Under Bhimalli, it lost the recognition as well as the money,” Mr. Namoshi said.
The election is scheduled to be held on Friday.
