First five votes, first five notes... and the 100th!- June 2009

The first five voters for the Students’ Council Elections 2009
had different expectations from the SC and what is interest-
ing to note is that none of them had attended the soapbox.
The first voter, Ashvinikumar Patilb (MECHENG)
said that he wants more information about their activi-
ties and better performance than earlier SCs. Goutham
(CSA), the second voter, wanted a yoga and meditation
centre to be set up and said that the reason why he was
voting was that it is his duty. While duty beholds, our
third voter Mohammad Asadullah Khan (CEDT)
wanted better eateries and more badminton courts. The
fourth in line Srivatsa Bhargava (CEDT), did not ex-
pect much from the SC except that they should react to
issues promptly and deal with utmost importance. The
fifth voter was also the first woman voter, Mahua Ghara
(CES), who said that to get something done was difficult
and also difficult to deal with the administration. It is easy
to blame people but here there are students who are taking
the initiative, making effort and putting in their time. If
they get 10-15% done, it is ok.
The 100th voter came in around 11 am and shared his
views and expectations- Prasenjit Biswas (SERC). He
said and later in a mail wrote, “The main expectation is
that the distance between the SC and the students should
be decreased. Many do not know what they are doing and
so people are reluctant to participate in activities of SC.Sc
is just two terms in the dictionary, nothing more.As far as
the polling process is concerned, it is fair enough. But the
most unimpressive fact is that the whole arrangement will
lead to election for only one post. Office bearers for the
other posts are already elected unopposed. This should not
be the scene. There is no contest at all. So where is the
point of an election? Rather we can term it selection. What
I want to say is that the student community in IISc is too
reluctant to take part in the process. They considers it as
wastage of time. The response is not good if we judge it
from a voter’s perspective also. I know many people who
does not know even the name of the contestants. Today is
just like any Saturday to many. And they should not be
blamed for this. It reflects the inability of the SC that they
could not reach to every student’s doorstep. And this dis-
tance does create a mind set-up which says that SC is not
so powerful here and if one bad person is being elected we
are not going to affected much or if one really great person
is elected then also we will not be at the zenith. People
are not able to feel the essence of this common platform
of the students, by the students, for the students. So I do
expect from the next SC that they will try to eradicate this
distance. They should try to build the proper symbiosis be-
tween Student Community(SC) and Student Council(SC).
The crowd in a student council event should outnumber the
crowds in events organized by regional groups. Then auto-
matically the problem will come along with its solution.”

P.S: With inputs from Shyam