At PU, 11,000 graduates fail to vote 145;correctly146;

Further, the voters8217; list for the graduate constituency has not been revised since 1953 8212; when the Senate was constituted.

The main ground on declaring the votes invalid 8212; the voters have not marked the preferences correctly. A voter, while giving first preference to a candidate, has to write numeric one against his/her name.

Most of the voters, whose votes have turned out to be invalid, have either written 8216;1st8217;, 8216;FIR8217;, or 8216;One8217; against the candidates.

Asked about the invalid votes Panjab University Registrar S S Bari said: 8220;This clearly shows the level of graduates being produced from the university. There are clear instructions at the back of the ballot paper on how to cast votes. So many invalid votes show the carelessness of the voters.8221;

He added, 8220;In the principal constituency, however, no invalid vote has been cast.8221; The invalid votes have added to the concern of the contestants for whom every vote is important.

8220;It is the responsibility of the contestants to educate their voters on the way to cast a vote. There are many voters for whom language is a major hindrance,8221; said Bari.

Further, over the years, there has been an addition to the voters8217; list since most of the students who have graduated, have become a voter. A mere Rs 15 has to be paid by a PU graduate become a voter.

The voters list has several voters who are dead, but their names have not been deleted as there has been no revision of the list.

Talking to Newsline, Ashok Goyal, a fellow at Panjab University, said: 8220;Though a number of measures have been introduced to revamp the Senate, we have a long way to go. There is need to initiate further reforms.8221;