RU elections: Voting down to 50.78%
REASON Despite claims by administration for motivating more students, the slight decrease in polling percentage is being attributed to voting date between holidays JAIPUR: It’s always the caste politics that have been influencing the university elections these days. This time, I voted for the ones who do not oblige towards caste driven politics. The NSUI candidate was beaten up badly by the ones who were afraid of him. I believe he can win the elections since his image is now of a strong leader. These days, in university elections, people can only trust an independent candidate amid the allegations of party tickets being sold and subgroups within the parties.
Nearly half of the voters turned up to vote out of the listed 22,677 in the Rajasthan University Elections 2018 on Friday. The elections were held peacefully. Students casted their votes on 93 polling stations equipped with security personnel between 8AM to 1PM.
Despite the claims by the administration for motivating more students to vote, the voting percentage witnessed a decrease in comparison to the past two years. The voting percentage in 2016 and 2017 was 58.8% and 51.58% respectively which decreased to 50.78% this year.
The administration says that the slight decrease in the polling percentage is due to the placement of the polling date between two holidays. “Until last year, we were told by the students that they would not cast their vote since they don’t find the candidates promising. To resolve this, we introduced NOTA as an option this year. The only reason for the decrement in the polling percentage could be the placement of polling date,” said V.V. Singh, chief election officer, Rajasthan University.
The polling percentage of Maharani College amounted to 43.69% and that of Commerce college amounted to 46.82%.
The ballot boxes from the 93 polling booths are sealed and kept inside the office of Dean, Students Welfare. The premises are equipped with CCTV cameras and the ballot boxes would be under observation by two subinspectors and eight gunmen. The polling in Jodhpur will be conducted on September 10. The results will be declared on September 11.
Nearly 900 police personnel were deployed on the polling premises including three battalions of the RAC.
“The elections were held peacefully. More than 20 people have been rounded up for sticking posters on Thursday night and Friday morning and seven vehicles have been seized”, said Gaurav Yadav, DCP(Jaipur East).
In the university elections, there are some candidates who look promising enough to not go out of reach after winning the elections.
This year, I voted for those candidates.