The state government’s recent announcement in the state Assembly to restart college and University elections has not gone down well with many sections of the society.
While most political parties have accepted and welcomed the proposal of campus elections, the MNS strongly opposed it. “We have seen the elections leading to quarrels among the student fraternity. It is not good to have any system that creates law and order problems at the college level,” Bala Nandgaonkar, MNS legislator had remarked.
Academicians and students are also viewing the proposal with trepidation, as they fear a repeat of incidents like the one that first led to the college and University elections being banned in 1993.
The student body elections saw an abrupt end in 1993 after a student candidate from Ismail Yusuf College in Jogeshwari, who was in the running for University representative, was allegedly killed by a rival college candidate, who was also in the fray for the post. While kidnapping and restraining rival candidates was a known fact, the murder had come as a huge shocker. The ensuing hue and cry forced the government to take a major decision, which came in the form of banning elections altogether.
After the ban, many petitions were filed in various courts across the country demanding that the elections be restarted. Finally, in 2005, the Supreme Court directed the government to form a committee to look into the feasibility of reintroducing campus elections. The J.M. Lyngdoh committee, which was formed to look into the issue, visited various states and met academicians, principals, teachers and student representatives to get their feedback on the same. The committee submitted its report to the MHRD in 2006, along with recommendations for the reformation of the election process.
The committee, while recognising the importance of campus politics was immensely critical of its wide-ranging mistreats. It pointed to the fact that in many places especially in many north Indian campuses, student politics was manifested with muscle and money power. It also suggested that political parties avoid intervening in campus elections.
NCP leader and minister of higher and technical education Rajesh Tope, who had made the announcement about restarting colleges, had tried to address sceptics, stating that the state and nation had found very good leaders through the election system. He added that the Dr Rajan Welukar committee appointed by the Maharashtra government had also studied the recommendations made by the Lyngdoh committee, and that the state would ensure that the measures were implemented.
However, according to a senior political analyst, Mr Tope’s announcement is a politically motivated strategy — adopted by the NCP — to take all the credit for restarting campus politics.