Sunday, March 12, 2006
Students’ Council Elections at IISc
In the days where elections are contested on the basis of caste, language, religion and so many other things here was an election which can be model as to how it should be. In the recently concluded Students’ Council (SC) election at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Shri. M. Mohan Reddy was elected as the SC chairman, Divesh Thimmaya was elected as the SC secretary and Garima Gupta was elected as the secretary (women’s affairs).
What was interesting to see is that the elections were contested in a true spirit, strictly on the basis of the genuine issues related to the student community. The elections were not contested on the political party lines. Even the recently occurred mishap, the terrorist attack on the Institute, did not become an issue in the manifestoes of the candidates. I think JNU, Delhi must take a leaf out of IISc in this regard.
The other important aspect of the elections was the modus operandi of the election commission (EC). The EC which had Prof. Navakant Bhat as the chief returning officer and Prof. Indraneel Sen as the advisor worked in a very organized fashion to have peaceful elections. Electronic voting, round the clock E-mail submission and withdrawal of the nominations, short campaigning time to avoid unnecessary waste of time were some of the features of the elections.
All in all the election showed that the institute not just a model for technological and scientific research but also for other things too.
What was interesting to see is that the elections were contested in a true spirit, strictly on the basis of the genuine issues related to the student community. The elections were not contested on the political party lines. Even the recently occurred mishap, the terrorist attack on the Institute, did not become an issue in the manifestoes of the candidates. I think JNU, Delhi must take a leaf out of IISc in this regard.
The other important aspect of the elections was the modus operandi of the election commission (EC). The EC which had Prof. Navakant Bhat as the chief returning officer and Prof. Indraneel Sen as the advisor worked in a very organized fashion to have peaceful elections. Electronic voting, round the clock E-mail submission and withdrawal of the nominations, short campaigning time to avoid unnecessary waste of time were some of the features of the elections.
All in all the election showed that the institute not just a model for technological and scientific research but also for other things too.
Statistics for the post of the SC chairman
| Mohan Reddy | Amit Shaw | Total No: of votes |
| 682 | 554 | 1236 |
Statistics for the post of the SC general secretary
| Divesh Thimmaya | Sijo. J. Raj | Total No: of votes |
| 642 | 591 | 1233 |
Statistics for the post of the secretary (women’s affairs)
| Rachna Tiwary | Garima Gupta | Total No: of votes |
| 57 | 165 | 222 |
