Hyderabad: In the first direct elections for the Telangana Secretariat Officers Association held on Monday, September 19, assistant secretary of the revenue department, G Suresh Kumar, was unanimously elected as president. Also, an assistant secretary of the revenue department D Anjan Kumar was elected vice-president.
P Linga Murthy from the PR&RD department was chosen as general secretary and P Shyam Sunder of the finance department became treasurer along with 15 other office bearers.
The newly elected leaders will serve a three-year term representing the service-related grievances of assistant secretaries, deputy secretaries, joint secretaries and additional secretaries to the government.
These elections mark the first direct voting process in Telangana since its formation, with the last direct elections held in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2012. Since the creation of Telangana in 2014, only indirect elections have been conducted. Secretariat employees had been advocating for the revival of direct elections.
A total of 195 officers from the assistant secretary, deputy secretary, joint secretary, and additional secretary cadres were eligible to vote in these elections.