GRADUATE CONSTITUENCY, PURPOSE VIS-A-VIS FACTUAL POSITION
INTRODUCTION
- The India has bicameral system i.e. Two Houses of Parliament and similarly at the State level,
the equivalent of the Lok Sabha is the Vidhan Sabha
[Legislative Assembly] and that of the Rajya Sabha is the Vidhan Parishad
[Legislative Council]. Article 168 to the Constitution provides States an option of having a Second House which is known as the
“Legislative Council” and where there is only one House it is being termed as
“Legislative Assembly”.
- A Vidhan Parishad is considered important for two reasons
-To act as a check on hasty actions by the popularly elected House and
-To ensure that individuals who are able to contribute to the legislative process but might not be possible for him to get in due to rough-and-tumble of direct elections.
- After Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly passing the resolution to scrap State Legislative Council on 27th January 2020,
now there are only Five States viz. Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh to have Two Houses.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY COUNCIL IN STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
-Maharashtra Legislative Council consists of 78 members out of which 66 are Elected and 12 are nominated by the Governor for the term of 6 years. The Composition of Maharashtra Legislative Council is as under.
- 30 members are elected by the MLA’s.
- 7 members are elected from amongst Graduates from Seven Divisions of Maharashtra i.e. Mumbai, Amravati, Nashik, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nagpur and Pune.
- 7 members are elected from amongst teachers from Seven Divisions of Maharashtra i.e. Mumbai, Amravati, Nashik, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nagpur and Pune.
- 22 members are elected from amongst the local bodies of Maharashtra from 21 Divisions of Maharashtra.
- 12 members having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of matters such as literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social services are nominated by the Governor (Needless to mention that this is also a politics driven)
WHY FRESH REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
-In terms of decision of Supreme Court in dealing with the Special Leave Petition No 8017 of 2008, the Election Commission of India, vide Instruction No. 37/LC/INST/ECI/FUNC/ERD/ER/2016 dated 5th Sept. 2016 issued a detail guideline for preparation of electoral roll for Graduate Constituency, which inter- alia provided that the electoral roll has to be prepared a fresh every time and therefore the Voter List prepared in 2013-14 is scrapped and as a result a fresh Voter list is being prepared and thus every eligible Graduate is required to Enrol again.
CRITERION/PROCEDURE TO ENROL AS VOTERS FOR GRADUATE CONSTITUENCY.
-Nagpur Division Graduate Constituency consists of Six Districts viz. Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara and Gadchiroli. Every person ordinarily resident in any of these Six District and who has completed either a Graduation [In any Branch] from any Indian University or Three Year’s Diploma before 1.11.2016, is eligible to be registered as Graduate Voter.
Till 31.12.2019 the application in Form No. 18 for Voter Registration was required to be submitted manually. However, from January 2020 an application for enrolment as voters are being accepted online where along with Form No.18 the copy of
Passport size Photo, Copy of Aadhar Card or Voter ID, Copy of Degree or Marksheet for Final Year and in case of married women copy of PAN Card/Marriage Certificate/Gazzate Notification for change in name are required to be Uploaded.
WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM THE PERSON ELECTED AS MLC FROM GRADUATE CONSTITUENCY.
-The person elected as MLC from Graduate Constituency is having tremendous scope to work in larger interest of Graduates from all walks of life which consist of all types of Professionals [Chartered Accountants, Doctors, Advocates, Architects, Consultants Etc.] Lecturers, Teachers, Businessman, Service Provider, Self Employed, Unemployed and all types of Employees.
-The Graduates working in all these sectors since have their own issues for which an amicable solution, through Government Machinery, is sought by such elected persons. Though this election is not being contested on any Symbol of Political Party still they have strong grip over this Seat which is being used for political rehabilitation, which made this election too like Regular one and as such the very purpose of representation of Graduates is alleged to have been defeated.
-It is also expected that the representative from this constituency should contribute to the education field including dealing with the issues of Teaching Community, updating in Academics, Entrepreneurship/Job creation Oriented Education etc. but again this also remained unattended since the person elected on the strength of political party cannot speak against their own Government. As against this one of the MLC from Graduate Constituency Hon’ble Prof. Shri B.T. Deshmukh, Amravati has demonstrated as to what an independent MLC can work for this constituency. Further due to his continued and sincere efforts in this direction and tremendous work he continued as MLC for almost 30 years where he has set up a new benchmark for next generation.
WHY ONE SHOULD ENROL AS VOTER
-India is the largest democracy which is said to be - for the people, by the people and of the people and therefore every individual is expected to cast his/her valuable vote. Apart from normal voting for various elections viz. Lok Sabha, State Assembly, Municipal Corporation, Zillha Parishad, Gram Panchayat etc., an eligible Graduate is having fundamental right to vote for electing suitable person as their representative in State Legislative Council.
-Surprisingly the total registration for Graduate Constituency of Nagpur Region is ranging between 5% to15% of total eligible Graduates. Further their percentage in voting turnout is not more than 35 % and as a result less than 4% of Eligible Graduates use their voting franchise which is not a healthy sign in largest democracy. If an enrolment is substantial then one may ensure that the deserving person gets elected who shall strive hard in the interest of Graduates.
-Unfortunately, most of the Graduate are not aware about their voting rights and therefore it is seen that the persons belonging to the political parties are getting involved in voter enrolment process under the belief that the person to whom they are registering as Voters are likely to vote for them.
-However looking to the very low voter registration this time, the State Government Machineries have taken lot of efforts to register the graduate voters in Nagpur Division but still till the date around 1.35 Lakh Graduates are enrolled as Voter ,which is not even the 10% of the total eligible graduates in this region.
AN APPEAL TO THE GRADUATES
-I earnestly request all the eligible Graduates to enrol themselves as a voter and use their voting right by electing a deserving person who can take up their issues through the legislative council and can find the solution.
