The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday postponed the college-level student council elections that were scheduled in September this year. The decision was made as the elections were overlapping with the state Assembly polls also scheduled in September and October. "We have approved this decision in the cabinet meeting. There was no provision in the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 to postpone the elections, therefore, we made the amendment in it. This amendment has been forwarded to the governor for his ascend. The student council elections will be rescheduled on the reason of urgency situation like flooding, earthquake, natural calamity and due to the unforeseen reasons," said Vinod Tawde, state education minister. Maharashtra government had restarted the college level student council polls after the hiatus of 25 years. The student council election was banned in Maharashtra after the murder of a first-year law student Owen D'Souza in 1989. Now, the political parties are not allowed to field their respective candidate in this student council polls. No Clashes Please The decision was made by the state cabinet on Wednesday as the elections were overlapping with the state Assembly polls also scheduled in September and October, putting strain on security preparations The student council election was banned in the state after the murder of a first-year law student Owen D’Souza in 1989. Now, political parties are not allowed to field their respective candidate Tawde said that the election will take place. "The local collectors and vice-chancellors of respective universities were apprehensive. We need more security during both polls. The security forces will be engaged in the state polls so the absence of police in college campuses during poll can create law and order problem. Therefore, it is better to conduct one election at a time," he added. Over the years, there have been several demands to reinstate student elections. In 2014, the then Congress government of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan decided in principle that elections should be held again. The BJP government took it a step further and brought students' elections in the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016.

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