Campus Talk: Maharashtra students’ bodies demand to restart campus elections

While students’ organisations are writing to the authorities, many have raised a question — if students’ elections are possible in central institutes such as TISS, then why not state universities such as Mumbai University?

Siddharth Ingle, president of the Maharashtra Students’ Union (MSU), said, “Having an elected voice from amongst themselves is very important for the students to ensure their issues are resolved. And this is not possible without student elections. But the government has shown no interest in providing youngsters with a platform to raise their voices against issues faced by them.”

MSU has been repeatedly demanding to bring back student elections on campuses in Maharashtra. The outfit has also written a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

According to students’ organisations, it is impossible to have an effective young generation of leaders without campus elections. “Young faces from political families are enforced on youngsters as their leaders. Whereas, we require leaders who rise from among the students and have abilities to understand and raise issues faced by the students,” said Sachin Manwadkar, Maharashtra president of the Ambedkar Students Association. Manwadkar’s outfit has been working to mobilise different students’ organisations to raise a collective voice to bring back student elections.

The students’ elections were banned in Maharashtra in the year 1993, following a spate of violent instances. In 1989, Owen D’Souza, a candidate of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) in Mithibai College, had died in an incident of campus violence and it led to the amendment of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 1974 which banned political posters and banners on campuses.

However, following the 2016 amendment in the Act, in 2019, Mumbai University had released a schedule to conduct students’ elections but eventually, the students’ council was formed by nominations alone.

Aamir Kazi, Mumbai Secretary of the All-India Students Federation (AISF), said, “The members of the councils had to be nominated because of a prolonged delay due to firstly the assembly polls and then the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that normalcy has been restored and central institutes, such as TISS, are resuming students’ elections, it is time that even state universities review the situation.”

While a repeat of violence is feared by many when it comes to bringing back student polls, Rohit Dhale of the Chatra Bharati Vidyarthi Sangathana, a students’ organisation, said, “It is important for political parties to know that campus elections are not platforms for muscle or money power. It can be ensured via strict code-of-conduct for campus elections, just like the way such elections are being conducted in central universities and in other states.”