nagpur :- NU students` council polls in September

After a slight delay, Nagpur University has announced the dates of the much-awaited students` council elections for the new academic session (2010-11).

According to the director of students` welfare, Ashvin Chandel, the election process will kick start in colleges affiliated to the university on September 7. The first meeting of the council to elect the secretary from the nominated student members will be held on September 13.

The vice-chancellor has fixed date for the constitution of the council as per the section 40(6) of the Maharashtra University Act, 1994, on behalf of the management council. The formation is mandatory and non-compliance amounts to violation of the act. Interestingly, the VC remains the chairman of the students` body, while the pro-VC is the vice-chairman.

A committee of management council members comprising Arun Patil, Chandel and Kalpana Jadhav was also constituted for the smooth conduct of the entire process.

Colleges have been directed to submit names of the elected secretary to Chandel before September 17.
With the announcement of the dates, the student`s wing of political parties like National Congress Party (NCP), Vidyapeeth Vidyarthi Sangram Parishad (VVSP) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) among others heaved a sigh of relief.

Insiders are expecting a tough fight between the NCP-VVSP combine and ABVP.

In 2008, ABVP had won the posts of president and secretary while in 2007, the NCP-VVSP alliance had outwitted the BJP’s students’ wing.

The constitution of the students` council is never free of controversies. Last year, elections scheduled for August 21 were indefinitely postponed due to the month-long teachers' strike for the implementation of the sixth pay panel.

Later, the BPEd college in Tumsar was found to be operating without a principal and teachers. The college had only four students.

In 2008, the NCP-VVSP combine had complained about irregularities, rigging and misconduct during the process of electing college representatives (CRs). In 2007, a Wardha college principal had written a letter to the VC requesting him not to include their college in the process as many anti-social elements created a ruckus in the college and threatened them with dire consequences.