A large number of posters put up inside Maharashtra’s Mantralaya during the Secretariat Gymkhana election has triggered questions over the enforcement of rules governing displays in the state government headquarters.
The posters appeared across the main and extended Mantralaya buildings, including staircases, the lift area, all seven floors, the Trimutri courtyard, canteens, the main entrance and areas near ministerial offices, according to a report by Loksatta. The report said such poster displays are not permitted inside the government complex and that posters are usually removed when they are put up.
The Secretariat Gymkhana, established in 1954 for the overall development of employees and officers in Mumbai and the state secretariat, held voting on Tuesday for 15 executive committee positions. The organisation has 6,411 members, most of them employees and officers working at Mantralaya, the report said.
The election campaign extended into the government complex over the past week. Posters included material promoting an entire panel as well as individual candidates. Loksatta reported that the displays had become a subject of discussion at Mantralaya for two days, with employees questioning how permission was granted for the signage.
The Mantralaya premises are administered by the Public Works Department. According to the report, no similar poster campaign had taken place inside the complex during earlier elections. A staff bank election held the previous week did not feature comparable displays, and posters placed inside Mantralaya are generally removed promptly, it said.
The group responsible for the largest number of displays was identified in the report as the panel led by Secretariat Gymkhana incumbent general secretary Sunil Agarkar. The posters carried the names and photographs of Venkatesh Bhat, Pravin Munde, Pramod Pandit and Arvind Shete, among others. The report described the candidates as officials holding posts including under-secretary, deputy secretary and joint secretary.
The Secretariat Gymkhana’s ex-officio president is the chief minister, while the state’s chief secretary serves as its vice-president. The report said employees had raised concerns that the institutional position of the gymkhana may have enabled the posters to be displayed inside Mantralaya, although it did not cite a formal response from the chief minister’s office, the chief secretary’s office or the Public Works Department.
Employees have called for action, warning that allowing the displays could establish a precedent for similar poster campaigns inside the government headquarters. The report also noted that the gymkhana had attracted attention last year after changes were made to some of its election rules. The immediate next step remains unclear, as no official action or decision by the premises’ administering authority was cited in the report.
