FYUP critic Nandita Narain elected DUTA president

New Delhi: Left-affiliated Democratic Teachers` Front (DTF) candidate Nandita Narain won the presidential elections of the Delhi University Teachers` Association.

Narain, who has been a vocal critic of the implementation of the semester system and the four-year undergraduate programme, won the elections getting 2,705 votes. The mathematics professor of St Stephens defeated her closest competitor Ashwini Sarkar of Deshbandhu College, an AAD-INTECH candidate, by over 700 votes. Sarkar polled 1,909 votes. "This mandate has justified the teachers` movement against the nefarious policies of Delhi University Vice Chancellor. Teachers in large numbers have voted against the four-year programme, which was implemented without any consultation," former DUTA Secretary S D Siddiqui said. Two other candidates in fray - Pramod C Sharma of Kirori Mal College and Shiba C Panda of Satyawati College - received 818 and 561 votes respectively. Fifteen other executive council members were also elected from various teachers` groups for which 22 candidates were in fray. The council will now choose the vice president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer from among its members with nine votes required to win each post. DTF, which has clinched the top post won four seats in the council, while Indian National Teachers Congress (INTEC) and Academics for Action and Development won five and three seats respectively. The voting process, which saw the participation of a large number of teachers, took place from 10 am to 5 pm yesterday and counting of votes went past midnight. Of the total 6,474 votes recorded, 471 were invalid. PTI