Hyderabad: Campaigning will start for the October 15 student union elections of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu) from Saturday.
Twelve candidates have applied for nominations to battle it out for five positions. The elected students will be responsible not just for representing issues in MANUU-Hyderabad but also for issues in its 11 centers across the country. Surprisingly, there are only two nominees for the position of president.
The MANUU elections will be fought over a wide range of issues, highlighting the poor state of affairs in the varsity.
Mohammad Salahuddin, one of the contestants, said, “Weak placement cell and deficiencies in hostels figure prominently among the poll issues of all contestants. Students from various parts of the country come to the university to seek knowledge and secure well-paying jobs, but only a few companies come here for placements, that too with a pittance as pay package. Due to lack of hostels, six-seven students are forced to live in a single room in the hostels.”
Aqib Nazar, former vice president of the student union, said, “The university's efforts in betterment of communication skills and personality development are negligent even though many students are from rural backgrounds.”
Lack of quality inter-university events and student exchange programmes also figures among the poll issues as MANUU students complain that it has left them isolated.
Stoppage of postgraduate scholarship of '1,000 per month, poor Wi-Fi connectivity, lack of round-the-clock healthcare and inaccessibility to the library after midnight are other issues.
While MANUU does not have political organizations on its campus, candidates are externally backed by major political parties like AIMIM, TRS, RJD and the Congress. Many voters know who is backed by whom and this plays a big role in voting.
Some also complain that regionalism runs high among students and plays a decisive role. There is also a lot of infighting among students from UP and Bihar.
