Puta election a low-key affair, few fighters in 'ring'

PATNA: Politics is certainly not the last refuge for most Patna University (PU) teachers as it appears from their growing indifference to their association elections scheduled for Saturday.There are only a few "fighters" in the ring and the entire show appears to be quite a low-key affair. The Patna University Teachers' Association (Puta) elections are not being fought on any principle or ideology this year. The Left forces, which once used to dominate the scene, have already called it a day. Surprisingly, the ruling NDA, or, for that matter, even the RJD and the Congress, have not sponsored its candidates in the fray.With only a day left for the Puta polls, electioneering was at its peak on Thursday. Teachers contesting for the seven key offices of Puta were seen moving from one college to the other seeking votes of their colleagues. The Puta election this year is virtually a fight between two teams. The team represented by the "white card" consists of PU economics department head Rai Murari (for the post of president), Patna Science College geology teacher Anil Kumar (for general secretary), B N College mathematics teacher Bal Gangadhar Prasad and PU Urdu department teacher Israel Raza (for vice-president), B N College teacher Shiv Sagar Prasad (for treasurer) and Patna Women's College chemistry teacher Madhu Rani Sinha and Patna College geography teacher Manoj Kumar Sinha (for joint secretary). The team represented by the "green card" consists of B N College history teacher P K Poddar (for president), Vanijya Mahavidyalaya teacher S B Lal (for general secretary), personnel management and industrial relations (PMIR) department head Prabhakar Jha and B N College teacher Javed Hayat (for vice-president), PMIR department teacher Kameshwar Pandit (for treasurer) and Kumari Rupam and Awadhesh Kumar of Patna Women's College (for joint secretary).Even as both the teams are claiming superiority over their rivals, the voters are in a fix as to whom they should vote for. The question baffling the teachers most is whether they should they allow the old guards to continue or give new faces a chance. In any case, they do not want any cross-voting this time as they are fed up with the infighting in the Puta leadership for the last two terms.