Pune: With the contestants finalised and three panels formed for the management council senate polls of the Savitribai Phule Pune University, one of the panels – ‘Vidyapeeth Vikas Manch’ comprising some of the existing senate members and directly or indirectly supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – on Friday declared its manifesto for the elections. The candidates are confident of getting a full majority in the election and will work on several issues ranging from hostel buildings to faculty recruitment to students’ fees if elected.
Rajesh Pandey, conveyor, Vidyapeeth Vikas Manch, said, “The preparation for this election was started a year ago and our panel has carried out proper planning. The voting percentage for these polls is around 30% but this time, we have tried to register as many graduates as possible for the elections and as a result, 88,000 voters have registered from the Pune, Nashik and Ahmednagar districts. Apart from that, we have set up a war room, developed software, and also created a complete ecosystem to guide and help voters for the election.”
Gajanan Ekbote, senior member of the panel, shared details of the manifesto and all the issues that the elected members will focus on. “We are contesting these elections since the last 30 years and every time, our candidates are elected with huge votes. Even this year, we are confident of winning all the seats. Our focus will mainly be on faculty recruitment which is pending since many years, effective implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), increase in the number of hostels for both female and male students at the university campus, and taking the SPPU ahead on a national level,” said Ekbote.
Asked about the fee hike and the rise in self-funded courses and what state universities have in mind for poor students, Pandey said, “The fees of very few courses have been increased in this academic year but certainly, we will look into the self-funded courses where the fees are huge as this should not happen in a state-run university. Our elected senate members will take up the issue of how to keep control over it.”
{{/usCountry}}Asked about the fee hike and the rise in self-funded courses and what state universities have in mind for poor students, Pandey said, “The fees of very few courses have been increased in this academic year but certainly, we will look into the self-funded courses where the fees are huge as this should not happen in a state-run university. Our elected senate members will take up the issue of how to keep control over it.”
{{/usCountry}}The last management council senate polls took place in 2017 and saw a major contest between the ‘Pragati’ and ‘Ekta’ panels. Whereas the candidates on the ‘Vidyapeeth Vikas Manch’ include Prasenjit Fadnavis, Bageshri Manthalkar, Santosh Dhore, Dadabhau Shinalkar, Rahul Pakhare, Ganpati Nangare, Yuvraj Narvade, Sachin Gorde Patil, Vijay Sonawane and Sagar Vaidya.
Meanwhile, the final list of candidates has been confirmed with 37 candidates from three different panels contesting the SPPU’s management council senate polls to be held on November 20 with the results to be declared on November 22. Last week, 31 candidates withdrew their forms, leaving 37 candidates contesting the polls this year.