PUTA elections today, 688 to cast vote

Bhartesh Singh Thakur 

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, August 20 

On the lines of the student elections, contenders of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) elections are using social media for campaigning. 

The PU teachers will cast their votes in PUTA elections on August 21. Prof Rajesh Gill-Prof JK Goswamy team has been on the forefront in using youtube.com, a video sharing website. The press conferences of Prof Gill have been uploaded on the website. 

Besides, there is a video of Prof Gill addressing all teaching community, where she is talking about the agenda of her team. However, comments are disabled for the videos. One video has over 550 views and others with over 100 views. 

On the other hand, her rival Prof Yog Raj has been using facebook. He has been sharing all newspaper posts regarding his team. One of his posts has invited over 80 comments. There are hardly any negative comments. 

Active on WhatsApp groups

Both the groups are also campaigning and debating through WhatsApp too. They have been using the ‘PU concern’ and WhatsApp groups managed by young faculty and wardens. 

However, the ‘PU Admin’ group has not been used which have the PU officials too as its members. 

On Sunday, there was a spat on a WhatsApp group on allegations of Prof Gill against Prof Ronki Ram, whose group has fielded Prof Yog Raj. Some teachers came in support of Prof Gill and a few supported Prof Ronki Ram, but a majority remained quiet and did not reveal their affiliation. 

Door-to-door campaign 

Besides visiting department-to-department, both the groups are visiting residences of teachers in Sector 14 and Sector 25 for votes.

“We got the construction of T-1 flats expedited. After that we worked for their allotments. We got a good response after we went there,” said Prof Gill. 

People who are leading their respective groups are calling teachers for support on phone. But what is the most effective way of campaigning? 

Prof Yog Raj said: “Teachers are intelligent people. They expect candidates to meet them or make a call. So, person-to-person contact is the most effective way of campaigning.” 

Prof Rajesh Gill said: “Social media is effective. Teachers saw the videos when they were on vacation. They want to know what exactly happened as newspapers reflected press conferences differently. But there is no substitute to people-to-people contact.” 

Prof Rajesh Gill-Prof JK Goswamy team

• President-Prof Rajesh Gill, sociology department 
• Secretary-Prof JK Goswamy, UIET
• Vice President-Assistant Archivist Mritunjay Kumar, AC Joshi Library
• Joint Secretary-Dr JS Sehrawat, anthropology dept 
• Treasurer-Assistant Professor Amandeep Singh, Department of Evening Studies 

Prof Yog Raj-Amrinder Pal Singh team

• President-Prof Yog Raj, School of Punjabi Studies. 
• Secretary-Prof Amrinder Pal Singh, UIET.
• Vice President-Prof Anil Kumar, UIPS
• Joint Secretary-Assistant Librarian Suman Sumi, AC Joshi Library
• Treasurer-Assistant Professor Simran Preet, biophysics department

Voting from 8.30 am at law auditorium

• Total votes in PUTA-688 
• Voting will start at the law auditorium at 8.30 am till 1.30 pm. The results will be declared the same evening. Voting percentage in 2017 was 93.04 per cent
• Prof Rajesh Gill had won the president’s post by a margin of 91 votes 

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