Calicut varsity Syndicate polls caught in legal tangle

The June 8 election to the Syndicate of the University of Calicut has been entangled in a legal dispute over some procedural issues.

This follows complaints filed with Vice-Chancellor M.K. Jayaraj by M.V. Sobin Varghese, Assistant Professor, Commerce, NMSM Government College, Kalpetta, Wayanad, and V.S. Nikhil, Section Officer (Finance), university campus, both Senate members who had contested the election to the categories of government college teacher and non-teacher, respectively.

The election to the Syndicate is held in the preferential voting system. Mr. Varghese and Mr. Nikhil, who belong to the pro-Left Democratic Front group of candidates, have questioned the way votes were counted and calculated to decide the winners. The V-C scheduled a hearing for July 1 to dispose of the complaint.

However, P. Rasheed Ahammed, one of the newly elected Syndicate members, approached the Kerala High Court on June 28, asking whether the V-C had the powers to hold a hearing on the petition after the declaration of the election results.

Mr. Ahammed belongs to the pro-United Democratic Front group of candidates who contested the election. The court directed the V-C to listen to the petitioners and the elected members and decide for himself if he had the powers to entertain an election petition. “Further proceedings on the election petition, apart from deciding the question on jurisdiction, shall not be continued without obtaining orders from this court,” the order said. The case was posted for July 8. Subsequently, the hearing was postponed. According to sources, it has now been scheduled for July 4.

Petitioners’ contention

Mr. Varghese has contended that he had got 11 original votes in the first round of election, above the quota of nine votes that were required to get elected to the Syndicate. He also alleged that Mr. Ahammed, who is a private college teacher and got 14 original votes in the first round, could not be accommodated against the category of ‘government college teacher’.

Mr. Varghese pointed out that T. Mohammed Saleem and K. Mohammed Haneefa should have been declared elected, as the next candidates in their category got zero votes. He alleged that the returning officer for the election and the counting team disregarded the reservation rules and the proportional representation system.