The scheduled elections to the Vending Committee that would govern and represent the interests of the street vendors in Hosur Corporation jurisdiction has come to be overshadowed by alleged procedural discrepancies. One of the allegations include the brazen cross-nominations by candidates in the final list posted by the Corporation.
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has flagged the discrepancies and called for the scrapping of the elections.
The Corporation had called for filing of nominations for the election to the six-member Hosur Town Vending Committee representing the street vendors in its limits. The nominations opened from December 18 and closed on December 26. Only eight nominations were filed till the last date. The final nomination list was released on December 27. The committee would also include select officials.
The final list shows cross nominations for all the six seats. In one case, a candidate (Mubharak) is also the second proposer for his competitor Murugesh. Similarly, each of the eight nominations share at least one proposer with another candidate. For instance, candidate one and two – Shalini and Sigaravelu – each share Pramila and Gowramma as their proposer one and two with only the order interchanged; Kumar and Jeganathan are proposers one and two for candidates Ramesh and Momin; Sampath Kumar and Vetri are the proposers for candidates Shativel and Kokila; Thulasi Kumar is the proposer for candidates Mubarak and Murugesh; while Murugesh a candidate himself is a proposer for another contender Murugesh.
In July, CITU had staged massive protest demanding the issue of identity cards for the street vendors, and the subsequent conduct of elections to the committee as mandated under Rule 12 of the Tamil Nadu Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Scheme and Rules 2015.
Speaking to The Hindu, G. Sridharan, CITU district treasurer said, “at that time, our primary demand was the non-issue of identity cards for the street vendors, which rendered them vulnerable to eviction and stripped their access to welfare schemes.”
“When we met the Corporation Commissioner D. Sneha in July, she said, the contractor entrusted with taking photographs was delaying the work and that the Corporation was contemplating blacklisting the contractor. We were given to understand that there were 900 eligible street vendors. But, as of date, there is no list of street vendors (who would vote in the elections) made available to the members.
Equally, the trade union, which has a significant number of street vendors as its members, has also alleged that the advertisement announcing the filing of nominations for the elections itself was made in an evening paper and not in a major daily.
“The trade unions were not aware of the elections. And, when there is no list of street vendors, who have been given identity cards, and who are the primary stakeholders voting in the elections, the whole election announcement is a sham,” Mr. Sridharan says.
The CITU has called for scrapping of the election and starting the process afresh after the list of street vendors is made public.
The Hindu tried reaching the Corporation Commissioner for comments and also texted her. “Will look into the concern to check if the procedure was followed per the Act,” replied Ms.Sneha late Friday.
