Zeinab Khan’s election as the general secretary of student council has won her accolades from the University of Mumbai.
Much appreciation has come her way, as the post hadn’t seen a woman candidate for nearly a decade.
In addition to this, Ms Khan did not take the help of any student or political group. After her appointment was announced on Friday, officials said that the outcome of the elections was an example of “girl power” as she had comfortably outplayed her male competitors.
Prof. Mridul Nile, director, student welfare, who has presided over the GS elections for the past four years, said that the civic and politics student displayed extremely good know-how of the political system.
“There were seven candidates, who were nominated by their respective departments as class representatives, which included five female and two male candidates. These CRs elected GS from among themselves. With at least three nominations required to win the coveted seat, all the girls got behind Khan thus leaving the male candidates high and dry,” he said.
Mr Nile said that Ms Khan’s victory was important also due to the fact that the University had not seen a female GS in the past decade. He added that Ms Khan was an apolitical candidate due to the fact that in the past, students and political groups had intervened to ensure that a particular candidate won. However, during Ms Khan’s campaign, there had been no such interference.
Surprisingly, soon after her victory, the student wing of a national level political party had tried to take the credit. However, Ms Khan vehemently refuted the claims. “The victory was solely because of the other four girls filing their nominations in my favour,” she said.