MLC election postponement will speed up teachers’ recruitment

On May 8, the Election Commission announced MLC elections from two graduate and teachers’ constituencies each on June 10. Under the model code of conduct, which comes into effect when the Election Commission announces the election schedule, no ad hoc appointments are to be made and even regular appointments may be deferred until after the elections.

Recruitment to over 22,000 teaching positions in government and aided schools in Maharashtra, which began in December 2022, has been getting delayed for various reasons ever since. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections were yet another reason although the ECI instructed the education department to resume the recruitment process in the districts where voting was over.

With the term of four MLCs from graduate and teachers’ constituencies in Mumbai, Nashik and Konkan division expiring, elections were announced for June 10.

However, some stakeholders made representations to the ECI requesting postponement of these elections until after summer vacations in schools are over. Agreeing to this, the ECI on May 14 postponed the elections for these four constituencies and said that the new date will be announced later.

Education Commissioner Suraj Mandhare said, “Legislative Council elections have been postponed by the Election Commission so the code of conduct for the Legislative Council polls will not be applicable now. Therefore, as per the order given earlier, the districts where the voting process has been completed should immediately complete the process of appointing the candidates and fill the information in the spreadsheet.”

A detailed review of the respective districts will be conducted on Friday, he added.