The Mumbai University has said that its actions of deferring senate elections were in “utter good faith” and aimed solely at “refinement and correction of its voter list”. The university has also claimed that it was acting “under the statutory instructions of the State government”.
An affidavit was filed by Sunil Bhirud, registrar of the Mumbai University, in reply to a plea filed by advocate Sagar Devre challenging the university’s decision to suspend the senate elections in September alleging it was done due to “political pressure”.
Devre sought that the circular issued by the MU staying the senate elections be set aside and the university be directed to take immediate steps to commence and complete the election programme scheduled on September 10.
Chronology of events leading to deferral
An election notification was issued on August 9 and announced the ‘senate elections’ of the University of Mumbai for 10 seats of the Graduate Constituency. The last date for filing of the nominations was August 18. However, the MU released a circular on August 17 staying the senate election for an indefinite period.
The university affidavit filed through advocate Advocate Yuvraj Narvanka contended that it had taken “utmost care” while preparing the final Electoral roll. As a matter of fairness, in subsequent rounds of Scrutiny, the university has ensured that the same rule/ criterion was applied to all the candidates.
Ashish Shelar raises objection
Meanwhile, on August 9, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar raised objections on the electoral roll and wrote a letter to the Education Minister.
The government then asked the MU to look into Shelar’s complaint and till then defer the elections.
Shelar’s complaint was forwarded to MU on August 17, a day before the last day of filing nominations.
The MU claimed that although it had conducted a thorough inquiry before publishing the final voter list, it was impossible to examine Shalar’s complaint within a day.
“With the total voters exceeding 1,13,000 It was impossible and impractical to threadbare re-examine the whole of the list and conduct a detailed re-inquiry and submit the report by the end of the same day..,” the affidavit added.
It added: “Despite the earlier Scrutiny, the government ‘still insisted on re-investigation’. The same was not possible by the end of the day due to sheer number of voters and the nature of objections.”
Hence the elections were deferred and a detailed representation was sought from Shelar.
The election committee, in the meantime, with “extreme promptness and diligence” convened four meetings and the final report is expected in the first week of October.
The MU has claimed that once the report is submitted, it will publish the revised timetable for the elections.
