Mumbai University senate polls turn out be a big-ticket event

Party flags flying all over the place, people standing in long queues and political biggies coming out to monitor the situation — this was what was seen at various parts of the city on Sunday.

The occasion: the Mumbai University senate elections. 

The elections which were considered a low-key affair till now, took a huge turn for the bigger. Such was the turnout of voters that the polling counters provided by the university authorities were inadequate.

“At MD college in Parel, Maharashtra College at Byculla, the university’s Kalina campus and in Bhavan’s college voters were standing in queues for hours as there was not enough facility to speed up the voting process,” said Sainath Durge, Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) vice-president. 

The voters from MD College complained for the delay. “We stood in the line for more than two hours at the Kalina campus. Also, the space was insufficient,” said Anil Galgali, a voter. 

The arch rivals Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have made this election a prestige issue. For the Sena, it was the political debut for executive president Uddhav Thackeray’s son and Yuva Sena (YS) president Aditya. MNS on the other hand was participating in the elections for the first time after its formation. Besides these two parties, Nitesh Rane-led

Swabhiman Sanghatana and Bombay Graduate Forum (BGF) also put all their efforts to win the maximum number of seats. 
The student unions, however, are patting their own backs for such a huge turnout and are claiming victory.

“This must be for the first time that Mumbaikars came out for the senate elections in such a large number. This truly is a historic day, as it has never happened before. Our activists went out and were able to bring the voters out. Even the rival party members have congratulated me, saying this has happened because of YS’s intervention in the elections,” said YS president Aditya Thackeray. He added that it would be Sena in the senate this time, without any doubt. 

MNVS president Aditya Shirodkar too claimed that his union will win the maximum number of seats. “We are confident that the voter turnout will lead MNVS to win maximum seats. We will not boast about anything right now, but the result on Tuesday will speak for itself,” said Shirodkar.  

“We have not received all the reports yet, but from the information that we have, we can say that the total voting percentage is around 55. However, the confirmed figure will be given only after all the reports are in, which might take up to mid-night,” said MS Kurhade, a university official.  

The election process that took place in six districts which come under the university’s jurisdiction — namely Mumbai, Mumbai suburb, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurga — had over 46,000 registered voters. With the exception of a scuffle at Chembur between Sena and MNS activists, rest of the process went without any trouble, as the authorities put tight security around the polling centres.