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MU students conduct mock elections to address issues concerning them

Approximately 150 people including students, teachers and non-teaching staff are set to vote for the candidate of their choice today

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Contesting candidates along with their supporters
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Catching up on the election fever in the city and the country, and in a run-up to the upcoming student elections in Maharashtra, students from the Department of Civics and Politics at the University of Mumbai are conducting mock elections with an intention of initiating a better dialogue amongst students and officials.

The initiative, which is a brainchild of a bunch of first year MA students, who wanted to get the first-hand experience of electoral processes, has caught up in the department based in the Kalina campus of the University. Approximately 150 people including students, teachers and non-teaching staff are set to vote for the candidate of their choice today.

Three political parties — Students Power Party (SPP), Students Progressive Alliance and Welfare Network (SPAWN) and Students Democratic Party (SDP) are in the fray with three second-year students from the department representing each of these parties.

“We came up with the idea after we saw posters of several student unions in the campus. We were planning a farewell party for our seniors and a couple of us thought of having mock elections so that the student community as a whole including the seniors and freshers come together and discuss their issues and concerns on the same stage instead of mere formal interactions that happen during events,” said Omkar Waghmare, a first-year student, who is a part of the organising committee.

From catering to more local demands like requesting ramps and Braille labs for visually impaired students, facilities for temporary non-teaching staff and better research facilities and petitioning the BEST for an increase in the frequency of buses to the campus — parties are trying to address prominent student issues in their manifestos and party workings.

“These may be mock elections but through this, we want to bring students, teachers and the non-teaching staff on the same platform wherein they can have a debate about issues and discuss solutions without having to wait for any external organisation to support them,” said Asif Khan, the official candidate of the SPP.

While senior students will contest through their respective parties, the juniors are handling the functional aspects, which includes setting up committees, organising voting apparatus etc. There is an election commission which the faculty is in-charge of, and students have also formed a Public Enquiry Committee which has been scrutinising the work of all the parties and their respective candidates.

“We were extremely happy when students came up with the idea of having elections in the department. The whole process will have two benefits — students will learn how elections work, and more importantly, it will help facilitate a dialogue to bring in positive changes in the department,” said Dr Sudha Mohan, Head, Department of Civics and Politics.

Students plan to form an advisory committee after results are out, which will continue to function, coordinating between the administration and the students.

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