Mumbai: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest at University of Mumbai (MU) on Saturday, September 21 against the university's decision to postpone the senate elections. The voting for Mumbai University Adhisabha (Senate) Member Election was scheduled for September 22, 2024.
MU citing a directive from the state government, had announced a further indefinite postponement of the polls, only two days before the highly awaited senate elections.
While the reason remained unknown, the University attributed the delay on an investigation that the state had started because of reports of low voter list enrolment.
The University announced that as per the order received from the Government of Maharashtra under Section 8(7) of the Maharashtra Public University Act, the Graduate Senate Election scheduled on 22nd September 2024 is temporarily suspended till further orders from the Government.
However, staging a protest against this decision, ABVP protested inside the campus today.
The police reached the protest site at University of Mumbai's Fort campus in order to stop the protesting students. The police were also seen trying to forcefully remove the individuals from the protest site.
The ABVP staged a protest for the senate elections at Mumbai University.
— Mid Day (@mid_day) September 21, 2024
Videos by: @raje_ashish#ABVP #MumbaiUniversity #SenateElections #StudentProtest #HigherEducation pic.twitter.com/pFOO8IMNas
Since September 2022, when the previous senate's term expired, the institution has been run without elected graduates serving as representatives. Leaders of the opposition expressed dissatisfaction with the university's choice.
#WATCH | Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut says, "There is a cowardly government in Maharashtra. They have postponed the Mumbai University senate elections twice...After they got the information that Shiv Sena (UBT) would win the elections, the government got scared and… pic.twitter.com/4FKh7TzaWl
— ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2024
ABVP's stance
According to a statement by ABVP, the University administration yielded to the pressure of the Chief Minister at the last minute. They also said that this is against democracy.
The statement said, "this decision of the university, which has consistently failed to conduct a fair election process, is an insult to the graduates."
ABVP Konkan Region Minister Sankalp Phaldesai said, 'It is very unfortunate that the Chief Minister has directly or indirectly put pressure on the university administration for his own political greed while repeatedly ignoring the students' questions, and deciding to postpone the Bombay University General Assembly elections, which have been pending for the past two years. The delegation of ABVP is going to request the governor in this matter."