Title - Amid heavy police bandobast, 36% voting - The Times of India

VADODARA: Election of M S University Students Union (MSUSU) passed away peacefully without any major hiccups on Wednesday. The campus had virtually turned into a fortress of sorts with heavy deployment of police for the union polls, which witnessed around 36 per cent voting as nearly 12,220 out of 34,006 students cast their votes.

As the election started at 10 am, traffic barricades and towing crane were seen for the first time on the campus. Candidates, most of them dressed in traditional attire, were making last minute efforts to win over votes of students.

One of the major hurdles that both candidates and students faced during the election was regarding identity cards that faculties themselves had not issued on time.

At some faculties especially the Faculty of Commerce and Polytechnic College campus, candidates faced problems as authorities did not allow them to enter the polling premises.

The lack of coordination between the university officials got exposed at Polytechnic College. Even as a candidate and observer committee showed a written communication signed by the returning officer of MSUSU which stated that candidates should be allowed to go inside the polling premises and they should be stopped only if they are caught campaigning, the college authorities did not relent. It took nearly half an hour before the authorities allowed the candidates enter the premises.

At Faculty of Education and Psychology, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Social Work, the authorities insisted that students should produce 'renewed' smart cards. Smart cards unlike identity cards are issued only once!

Thanks to delay done by the faculty authorities, a large number of students could not exercise their voting right at Faculty of Medicine. Only 83 out of 1,800 students could vote here.

At Faculty of Arts, which had issued temporary identity cards, around 400 students could not vote because the validity of the identity cards expired on Tuesday - a day before the polls and the faculty was not ready to issue fresh identity cards.

Across the day, 14 buses owned by private city bus operator - Vitcos - were roped in along with private cars and vehicles to ferry students from Halls of Residence and prominent areas of the city. Most of them were managed by ABVP.

BOX OF SNIPPETS

SENIOR MOST VOTER

T B Joshi was an unusual voter, who exercised his voting right during the M S University Students Union (MSUSU) elections on Wednesday. Joshi, who used his voting right at Faculty of Law, is 81 years old. This retired executive engineer of the Indian Railways drew everybody's attention with his presence. Joshi is a second year law student, who occupies the first bench in classroom. On Wednesday, he forgot to bring his fee slip but he took the pain to go back and collect his fee slip from his home and returned to cast his vote at the campus.

KAAPLI KA KAMAAL

Many students used smart means to counter the code of conduct during this election. Instead of handing over visiting card-size cards to voters before they enter the polling booths, candidates and their supporters this time handed over 'kaaplis' to the voters for last minute campaigning. Almost similar to the size of the kaaplis (small chits) that are used by copy cat students inside exam centres, these kaaplis easy to smuggle overflowed the campus. Each kaapli distinctly listed the names of the candidates, the post for which they are contesting and their number on the ballot.

TOWING INSIDE

It was expected that MSU campus would turn into a fortress with heavy police bandobast. But nobody had expected that even traffic police would be deployed inside the campus and traffic barricades and a towing crane will be in place to stop vehicles. Ironically, outside the campus there were no restrictions when a series of bus that candidates used for ferrying students blocked traffic movement at prominent junctions in the city.

MERI BHI CHUP

On the eve of the MSU Students Union (MSUSU) elections, there was filmi style fighting at three spots including the Polytechnic College campus and the Fatehgunj circle early on Wednesday morning. According to sources, a candidate contesting for the post of faculty general secretary from Polytechnic College was beaten up by outsiders and a group of students linked with a student outfit around 1.30 am. Both the candidate and one of his supporters got badly injured, but there was no police complaint filed. When media persons inquired about the incident, the candidate himself denied that any such incident took place.