Nirmala Mahar would be the new President of Prathmik Shikshak Sangh (PSS) of Uttarakhand. She defeated VS Krishali by a margin of 25 votes in the poll which were conducted at the Padam Singh Shikshak Bhawan located at Racecourse area here on Monday.
The contest for the top positions of PSS was between the panels of Mahar and Krishali sections and the Panel of Mahar won all the three position which were at stake in the polls.
Mahar became the first women president as she polled 134 votes against 109 received by Krishali. For the position of General Secretary Digvijay Singh Chauhan defeated Nandan Singh Rawat by a margin of 34 votes; Chauhan polled 138 votes against 104 received by Rawat. Vinod Uniyal became the Treasurer of PSS as he defeated Bhupendra Singh of Krishali panel by 48 votes; Uniyal got 146 votes while Singh had to contend with only 96 votes. These three elected members would now nominate 43 delegates in the working committee.
Shortly after winning the elections Mahar said that her top priority would be to fight for the issues related with primary teachers like implementing the entry level pay scale of 16,290 for primary teachers. She said that the organisation would demand to increase the number of sanctioned posts of primary teachers in state on the basis of student teachers ratio as suggested in the Right to Education (RTE) act. Mahar added that the Sangh would also fight to create new posts of Headmasters in the schools of the State.
The PSS is the largest organisation of teachers in state with over about 25,000 teachers as its members. It is also one of the most powerful of all employee organisations in the state.
The process to elect new working committee started last year when its members elected 245 delegates. According to the constitution of PSS 100 teachers elect one delegate. On Monday three delegates remained absent from the poll process and 242 exercised their franchise to elect new president, general secretary and treasurer.
The election process on Monday started at 9 am with filing of nomination papers. The District Education Officer (DEO) Primary of Dehradun district Parendra Saklani was the Chief Election Officer for these elections. The National Treasurer of All India Primary Teachers Federation (AIPTF) BP Pandey and DS Bisht former vice-president of PSS were the observers for the election process of PSS.