MSUSUElection expenses run into lakhs

Devanshi Joshi. Vadodara/DNA
Saturday, August 30, 2008

As campaigning for the MSU student union polls ended on Friday, expenses involved in it were put in lakhs. Money spent on banners, cards, posters, vehicles, petrol, volunteers, services of free SMSes and pre-paid connections and perks to supporters was huge.Though cards, hoardings, posters are not allowed according to university rules, leaders openly used the tools by saying that these were essentials for election campaigning. As per sources, the contestants for FGS (faculty general secretary) spent around Rs15,000 to Rs25,000, which meant that the expenses of those contesting for UGS (university general secretary) and VP (vice president) posts would be in the vicinity of Rs5 lakh.NSUI candidate Kunal Patel, contesting for the post of VP, said, "Promotions are necessary to make students aware about the candidate. The university's restrictions on the usage of the banners, publicity cards and posters, for which there are expenses, will make it impossible to campaign." As per sources, 10,000 SMSes were given free to the party supporters over and above the fancily designed visiting and publicity cards which cost between Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. Pre-paid connections in bulk have also been provided by the candidates which cost heavily. Expenses were also made on providing petrol, rental cars for campaign rallies, snacks and other perks for the supporters. Narendra Tewari, an ex-university leader, says: "The election campaigning scene has completely changed over the years. When I won the election years back, I did not undertake big expenses for publicity. I used to meet people personally to get their trust."Amid all this, a question that arose was: was it possible for the leaders to bear the burden of all these expenses? Sources said it was not possible for student leaders to spend so huge amounts without the support of mainstream political parties.