Patna, Feb. 4: Young Turks are set to rule the Patna University (PU) senate for the next three years.

In the election that was held for 10 seats of the PU today, most winners were in the age group of 30-40. Of the 18 candidates in the fray, only four senior teachers, considered “the grand old men” of the university, managed to make it to the senate.

The four senior teachers who won the election are Balram Tiwari, M.P. Trivedi, Asim Lal Chakravorty and Virendra Prasad. The rest of the posts were grabbed by Sarad Prawal, Rupam Kumari, Suheli, Seema Prasad, Ravindra Kumar and Abhay Prakash. All six are in the age group of 30-40.

The teachers appeared well prepared and enthusiastic for the election to the 10 senate posts from different constituencies held at Wheeler Senate Hall. Over 400 teachers elected the senate members through secret voting.

For more than a month, election to the senate was the most talked-about issue among the teachers. Their interest in the election was evident from the fact that over 95 per cent votes were polled. Though polling began around 10am, the candidates, along with their supporters, were seen present at the venue from 9am. Polling continued till 1pm, while counting began at 3pm.

Though 15 senate members were supposed to be elected, five candidates were elected unopposed on the last day of filing nominations on January 19.

The five candidates who were elected unopposed were Punam Kumari from Patna Women’s College, Pushpanjali Khare from Magadh Mahila College, Sapan Kumar from Vanijya Mahavidyalaya, Govind Kumar from the personnel management and industrial relations department and Vinay Soren from the political science department. The role of the elected senate members in the context of the university is similar to that of the members in the Assembly. The senate members play a crucial role in making decisions on university affairs and they are elected for a term of three years.