NU receives 138 nominations for grad constituency’s 10 seats

Nagpur: The Nagpur University’s graduate constituency elections received 138 nomination forms from the aspirants.
However, the actual numbers are around 60-70, as many candidates had filled multiple forms in the open and reserved categories, as per the NU officials.
Even the number of voters witnessed an exponential jump from 17,000 in 2017 to over 49,000 this year, which would make the task of all contestants tougher, as reported by TOI on November 9.
About 58 contestants withdrew their candidature on Friday, which was the last date for withdrawal for other seats of Senate polls, including principals, college management, teachers and Board of Studies (BOS), among others, excluding the graduate constituency. The highest number of withdrawals came from various BOS at 33. It means there will be no polls on as many as 27 BOS, according to the NU officials.
About 14 have taken back their candidature from teachers’ category, one from the management, two from the principals, and five from the Academic Council polls.
There will be a straight fight between formidable alliance of ABVP-Shikshan Manch and mega alliance of Young Teachers Association and Secular Panel and Vidyapeeth Vidyarthi Sangram Parishad (VVSP) on most of the seats.
The Nagpur University Teachers Association (NUTA), a veteran player in these important elections, is also contesting but it is no longer a force to reckon with like it used to be in the past. The Senate Parivartan Panel is also contesting the polls along with Shikshak Bharti and Yuva Sena, a youth wing of Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former minister Aditya Thackeray, which is making a debut.
Candidate cleared by VC withdrew nomination
Among all the withdrawals on Friday, NU officials raised suspicion on taking back the nomination form by a candidate named S Kumar from the principal’s post on the Senate. Her nomination was earlier rejected by registrar Raju Hiwase on account of insufficient experience of examinations related work. She filed an appeal before vice chancellor Subhash Chaudhari, who reversed the registrar’s order and allowed her to fill up the nomination forms. However, her sudden withdrawal from the fray left everyone surprised.
According to NU officials, Kumar had lodged a complaint against three candidates, who were contesting the polls for five posts of principals on the Senate stating that their colleges lacked valid NAAC certification. Subsequently, the nomination of Priya Wanjari, Nitin Mathankar and one more were rejected by the NU administration. The first two had challenged their rejection in the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, which would hear their petitions on Monday, as per NU officials, where Kumar was made respondent.