CHENNAI: A day after issuing a circular asking principals of its affiliated colleges to collect details of voter ID of the students and later withdrawing it, the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University (TNTEU), in a fresh circular, clarified the circular was issued “erroneously”.
The circular issued by the registrar (in-charge) on Thursday said “oral instructions have been received from the office of the honourable governor, Raj Bhavan, to collect details of voter ID numbers of the students” in the colleges of education affiliated to the university.
However, following backlash, the university did a U-turn, saying they had not received any oral instructions from Raj Bhavan. The fresh circular issued by the registrar in-charge of the university on Friday said, “Circular in Ref No 1 was issued erroneously. There was no such instruction from Raj Bhavan.”
The revised circular further said, “Governor-Chancellor has conducted a meeting with vice chancellors/ registrars of state universities on March 11 at Raj Bhavan, Chennai. During the meeting, it was informed that awareness should be spread among the students to be registered as electors and to cast their vote. Hence, I request you to conduct awareness campaign to motivate and encourage the students to register themselves as electors within the next 10 days and exercise their franchise”.
Speaking to TNIE, one of the officials at the university said, “There was some confusion and miscommunication which led to this unwarranted situation. Our intention was just to ensure 100% participation of our students in upcoming elections.”
The March 14 circular had received flak from different sections of the society. While the alleged instructions of Raj Bhavan raised some eyebrows, a few academicians pointed fingers at the varsity for issuing such politically-motivated circular.
“A state university should not get involved in such activities, that too, just before the election. It’s highly unethical,” said a former vice chancellor of the University of Madras.
Taking a dig at Governor RN Ravi, DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson demanded transparency from the governor’s office and expressed concern over the potential electoral targeting of students.Wilson urged the Minister for Higher Education to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and take appropriate action against those responsible. He also appealed to the President of India to request a report from the governor regarding the incident.