Out of 26K registered voters for MU senate poll, half deemed ineligible

The Mumbai University MU senate elections longawaited and overdue appear to be jinxed Following a string of controversies surrounding the registration of voters in the graduate constituency which included accusations of duplication fraudulent registrations legal battles and the annulment of voter lists last year the university has now announced that 50 per cent of the newly compiled voter list has been declared ineligibleThis has irked all the students and youth wings participating in the process Highlighting the timingmdashthe ongoing academic year is concluding and the general election is due to be held this yearmdashyouth wings have criticised MU For the graduate constituency a fresh voter registration process for 10 seats was conducted from October 30 to November 30 2023 Subsequently the verification of applications began on December 1 and continued until February 25 2024 According to the schedule published by MU the final voter list was released on February 26Following this applications from candidates will be accepted on March 11 and the process including verification appeals voting and counting will take place on April 21 and 24 respectively On February 28 MU issued a circular with new instructions and schedules Accordingly registered voters will need to check for their names in the eligible and ineligible lists The MU election department has provided a window from February 29 to March 4 for notifying any errors or seeking clarification in the newly published voting listAlso Read Finish admission procedure on time or face penalties Mumbai UniversityHowever out of the total 26744 registrations 13350 which is almost 50 per cent of voter registrations have been declared ineligible MU had announced the senate election for 10 seats in the graduate constituency and set August 18 as the last date for filing nominationsThe state government reiterated its request to reexamine the entire voter list and directed the MU under Section 8 7 of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act to postpone the elections until the revised list was published as stated in the affidavit On the same day BJP MLA Ashish Shelar wrote a letter to Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil raising concerns over the final electoral roll and on August 17 the government asked the university to investigate Shelarrsquos complaint and defer the election A threemember committee under the chairmanship of R S Mali former VC of the Bahinabai Chaudhari Uttar Maharashtra University Jalgaon was constitutedThe matter subsequently reached the Bombay High Court which also directed MU to announce the revised schedule by October 25 after holding a hearing The Higher and Technical Education Department of the government filed an affidavit in response to a petition filed by advocate Sagar Devre who alleged the universitycopys decision to postpone the senate elections in September was influenced by ldquopolitical pressurerdquo Devre demanded the annulment of the circular issued by the MU on August 17 which deferred the elections originally scheduled for September 10Deore moved the higher court again alleging contempt and the next hearing for the case is scheduled for November 28 MU said that the decision to defer the elections was made following the statutory instructions of the state governmentThe senate consisting of representatives from teachers principals graduates and college management serves as the universitycopys oversight body and holds the authority to approve the budget With no functioning senate since August 2022 due to the conclusion of its term a significant portion of decisionmaking authority has been vested in the vicechancellorMeanwhile on October 25 the report by the threemember committee clarified that there was an error in the voter list prepared for the senate election graduate constituency Taking into consideration this report the MU management council decided to redo the voter list The voter registration was started anew thereafter MU officials declined to comment on the issueldquoIn the guise of making changes to curb duplication university administration has turned the system into a farcerdquo said Santosh Gangurde student activist and state chief organiser of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena ldquoIn the previous modifications old voters were required to rectify their existing forms and also submit a fresh one There was a requirement to physically submit the form at the universityrsquos Fort campus It seems straightforward to crosscheck old forms for duplication and allow them to remain unchanged This chaos has resulted in a poor response to the voter registration drive this timerdquo he saidStudent representatives say the number of voters registered earlier was over a lakh ldquoThey have actually made a mockery of the processrdquo lamented Gangurde Former senate member Pradeep Sawant added ldquoThe ruling parties have a strong fear of losing and hence they have kept elections at all levels on holdVoter list published by MUEligible 13394Ineligible 13350Total 26744