Controversy in TSMC Election: Medical College, Hospital Managements Alleged to have Collected Blank Ballots

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) elections, which were recently held after almost 17 years, have already been mired in controversy as managements of medical colleges and hospitals in certain places are alleged to have collected blank postal ballots.

Altogether 18,000 postal ballots were received by the election officer. However, as per the officials, 3,500 ballots came back undelivered. The ballot papers were dispatched between September 30 and October 15.  November 30 was the last day to receive the voted ballots.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that while considering a plea by the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA), the Telangana High Court bench had asked the State Government to conduct the polls for the medical council without increasing the number of the state-sponsored nominees.

The association had raised the issue of not conducting Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) elections since 2007. Apart from this, the association had also pointed out the illegal continuation of nominated members for more than a decade as interim ad-hoc body and reduction of elected members from 13 to 5.

While the High Court order had been challenged before the Supreme Court, the Apex court refused to stay the order of the HC and directed the Telangana Government to conduct the elections of the Council within 3 months for 13 members.

Also Read: Supreme Court directs state to hold fresh elections for new medical council

Earlier, TSMC had uploaded the provisional electoral rolls on its official website i.e. onlinetsmc.in. The provisional roll had a list of more than 45,000 registered medical practitioners. The Council had published the registration number, and name of the doctor along with their father's name.

A total number of 108 doctors were contesting in the elections. They are fighting for strict measures against quackery, requirement of emergency departments, and doing away with NMC among others.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the election process came to a close on Friday and already it is facing controversy. This is because the management of medical colleges and hospitals in certain places allegedly collected blank postal ballots.

Previously, HRDA wrote to the State Health Secretary SAM Rizvi alleging malpractices in the election process and demanded a proper investigation. It was alleged by the association that the medical superintendent of a private hospital based in Malakpet forcefully collected the postal ballots of the election from the consultants in the name of instructions from the district medical and health officer (DMHO).

Members of HRDA also participated in the election process. On August 24, 2023, HRDA released a list of 13 candidates who participated in the TSMC polls.

Also Read: TSMC Elections: Council Uploads Electoral Roll of more than 45,000 doctors, Objections are to be reported within August 9