Patna: The battle lines have been drawn for the Patna University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) elections, with 25 teachers in the fray for seven key posts after the final list of valid candidates was published on Wednesday following scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations. Polling is scheduled for Nov 4.The contest is particularly crowded for the posts of general secretary and joint secretary. While five candidates are vying for the lone post of general secretary, 10 teachers are contesting the two joint secretary posts.The presidential race features four candidates: Shankar Kumar (Physics), Kumar Satyendra Yadav (PG Department of Statistics), Sheo Sagar Prasad (IPRS) and Supriya Krishnan (PMIR). For the two vice-president posts, Archana Jaiswal, Salim Jawed and Suppan Prasad Singh are in the fray.The five candidates contesting for general secretary are Ashutosh Kumar, Ashutosh Pandey, Birendra Kumar, Deep Narayan Kumar and Shekhar. The treasurer’s post will witness a three-cornered contest among Naqui Ahmad John, Jyoti Chandra and Md Ziaul Hassan.The election will also decide the composition of PUTA’s executive committee. The final list includes 23 candidates for 19 executive committee positions. While several constituencies have uncontested candidates, elections will be held in others.In an attempt to make the campaign issue-based, the central election committee has organised separate debates for presidential and general secretary candidates on Oct 31 at Jay Prakash Narayan Anushad Bhawan. Candidates will be given equal opportunities to present their vision, priorities and programmes before the teaching community.Polling will be held from 10am to 3pm on Nov 4 at the Patna College gymnasium, with nearly 400 teachers expected to cast their votes. The election assumes significance as PUTA is going to the polls after a gap of more than three years. The last election was held in July 2023.
