Student elections are back, but a with long list of rules

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Colleges in Maharashtra may finally see open-elections like their counterparts in the capital. The much awaited statutes to conduct student open elections have been declared by the Maharashtra government.

With an exhaustive list of norms, including no political party signs to be used by students and no campaigning, among others, the authorities have ensured that politics is kept out of college campuses. Most importantly, the code of conduct for the elections has also put a cap on expenditure. As per the statutes announced by the Higher and Technical Education of Maharashtra government, the election process will have to be declared by the director of students welfare department of any university before July 31.

The entire process has to be completed before September 30 of the academic year. The process to elect student representatives for the university as well as all affiliated colleges will have to be done on the same day. No student who has crossed 25 years of age can contest as a candidate.

According to the code of conduct declared under the statutes, "There cannot be any panel by candidates. Candidates contesting for class representation will be allowed only R1,000 as election expenditure and candidates contesting for posts such as president, secretary and others will be allowed only Rs 5,000. After declaration of the results, candidates will have to submit detailed accounts of the expenses to the authorities. No candidate will be allowed to use any sign or symbol of religion, caste, political party, etc, while campaigning.

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