RailEnquiry

KOLKATA, 2 MAY: Trinamul Congress affiliated trade unions have lost the railway union elections in all three railway zones headquartered in Kolkata to Congress and CPI-M affiliated bodies. The results of the elections, held between 25-27 April, were declared today.In Metro Railway, where union election was held for the first time, CPI-M backed MTP Railway Mens' Union secured 46.02 per cent votes to emerge as the only recognised union.Intuc-affiliated Metro Railway Workers Congress and the Trinamul's Inttuc-affiliated Metro Railway Progotishil Sramik Karmachari Union, which fought the election separately, polled 27.33 per cent and 23.50 per cent votes, respectively. They could have given stiff competition to the CPI-M backed union had they fought the election together.According to railway norms, a union is required to secure at least 30 per cent of the polled votes to get recognition, which in turn enables them to represent workers before the management for a five-year term.    In Eastern Railway, Trinamul's Inttuc-affiliated Eastern Railway Employees and Workers Congress received a drubbing from CPI-M-backed Eastern Railway Mens Union (ERMU) and the Intuc-affiliated Eastern Railway Mens Congress (ERMC). ERMU and ERMC retained their recognition by securing 46.44 and 36.11 per cent votes, respectively; the Trinamul-backed union bagged only 11.65 per cent votes.The performance of the Trinamul -backed union in South Eastern Railway was even worse; the Inttuc-affiliated South Eastern Railway Mens' Trinamul Congress managed only 5.21 per cent votes. Congress-backed South Eastern Railway Mens Congress secured 45.32 per cent votes and CPI-M backed South Eastern Railway Mens Union has polled 41.70 per cent votes with both the unions retaining their recognition for another five years.This was the first time the Trinamul-backed unions were participating in the railway union polls. Earlier, it had backed unions affiliated to Congress’ Intuc. Last time the union elections were held was in 2007.