Taywade blames Secular Panel for unethical practices

Though the counting for Nagpur University's Senate polls spilled over the third day on Thursday due to tough contest for two graduate constituency seats, clear picture has emerged about the representatives who will govern the institution for next five years. According to officials, the first senate meet will be held in March end where elections for the NU's highest decision making statutory body -- management council -- will be conducted.

The tough fight in the graduate constituency had resulted in delay of the counting process, which stretched to third day. Of five seats for the constituency, favourites Mohan Bajpayee, Mahendra Nimbarte and Samir Kene won with convincing margin while for remaining seats, there was a close fight between Uday Dable, Rajesh Bhoyar, Suryakant Khanke and Ramesh Pishe. After recounting which lasted till 9 pm, Khanke and Pishe were declared winners in an extremely close contest.

Dr Vedprakash Mishra-led Secular Panel had already stamped their authority by winning a majority of seats in their debut elections on the House while traditional players like Nagpur University Teachers' Association (NUTA) of Eknath Kathale and Shikshan Manch of Prabhuji Deshpande had to bite the dust. Only Baban Taywade's Young Teachers' Association (YTA) managed to give semblance of fight by winning as many as 24 seats. While Shikshan Manch could clinch only eight seats, NUTA fared disastrously with only two seats to their credit.

Taywade expressed satisfaction over YTA's performance but indirectly blamed the unethical practices adopted by Secular Panel for bagging maximum seats. "We fought democratically. But opposition clinched seats with money and muscle power," he said.

Citing an example, the DNC principal said that they forcibly took 1,300 votes of engineering faculty. "Even on Sunday, engineering colleges were kept open and lecturers were given slips through their respective principals to vote in favour of a particular candidate. There were instructions to them not to talk with anybody and vote only the prescribed candidates. They were also threatened of dire consequences if they failed to adhere to the directions," he claimed.

Taywade, who won from principal's category along with his wife Sharayu, dared the Secular members to show their mettle once the engineering faculty joins the common engineering university on the lines of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS). "The university should conduct enquiry on these illegal practices," he said.

Over 300 NU employees toiled hard in the counting process that stretched to three days and nights. Interestingly, after many years, NU employees were seen working in tandem with total coordination after initial hiccups which led to delay of two weeks in the poll process. The process was supervised by officiating registrar Mahesh Yenkie who is also returning officer for the polls and assistant registrar Sanjay Bahekar. NU counsel Bhanudas Kulkarni guided the entire team.