A plea has been filed in the Bombay High Court (HC) against the University of Mumbai (MU) for scrapping the entire electoral roll for its senate elections, as youth leaders from opposition parties are up in arms against the varsity's drastic move. MU on Wednesday had announced conducting the voter registrations for the graduate constituency anew, after a three-member probe committee faulted the university for making Aadhaar mandatory for the registration process.
Opposition lashes university for acting under political pressure
The opposition leaders have, however, lashed the university for acting under political pressure and delaying the elections for its top statutory body. The senate election process was indefinitely suspended two months ago, following a complaint by BJP MLA Ashish Shelar who had alleged that the voter list had several duplicate entries.
While the probe committee refuted the claims about names being repeated in the list, it still recommended redoing the voter registration process as it found the varsity's Aadhar mandate against the rules. Sagar Devre, a lawyer and aspiring candidate for the senate, who had challenged the suspension of the election in the Bombay High Court (HC), has filed an Interim Application (IA) to revive his plea against MU that was disposed of on October 9.
"political vendetta"
Varun Sardesai, Secretary of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena (UBT), called the move "political vendetta". After scrutinising the voter list thrice, the university decided to redo the entire process. "This despite the fact that the committee had refuted all the allegations made by Shelar and even reduced the number of voters to 90,000 after further examination," he said, adding, "BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) know very well that we will win all 10 seats in the senate," he said.
On Thursday, Yuva Sena office bearers had a meeting to decide their course of action. "We are prepared for both the scenarios (fresh voter registration or continuation of existing list), said a functionary of the group. Other organisations also had similar reactions. Santosh Gangurde, state chief organiser, Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena, said, "Any election process is a festive celebration of democracy. We are well equipped and ready for the senate election whenever it is going to be held."
"The ruling coalition is just trying to buy more time"
Amol Matele, Vice President of Nationalist Youth Congress, the youth wing of NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), said, "(The ruling coalition) is just trying to buy more time. It's not easy to do the entire process again. Ideally, the graduates shouldn't have to be registered. They should be enrolled automatically by the university."
