India elects President today - Gondwana University has already !!

           In paleogeography [the study of landscapes],  Gondwana, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that  existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago.   In India,  Gondwana has been the place where no. of old kingdoms existed in its hilly terrain.   Gondwana  is named after the Gondi people who live in the region now lying  in modern Orissa.

All over the Nation, MPs and MLAs will vote only today to elect the next President, though it is almost a foregone conclusion that  UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee would become the President of India.   has already been declared the 14th President of India in a university

Pranadda’s poll managers ae confident that he would bag almost 65% of  electoral college and that Pranab should be ready with his baggage to move into the Rashtrapathi Bhawan.  Voting has begun in state assemblies and in Parliament House to elect the next President of India; 4896 legislators - 776 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs and 4,120 MLAs - will vote till 5 pm today.

While they speak of the benefits of electronic age and educate the illiterate masses to vote on Electronic Voting Machines, for the Presidential elections, they do not use EVMs.  Each of them will list their preference on a ballot paper. The ruling UPA has worked hard to gather together the support of its allies, friends and even some opposition parties to support its candidate, Mr Mukherjee. Their pledged support adds up to that 65 per cent.

Sangma is smiling but only a miracle can alter the chances of the candidate backed by the BJP-led NDA along with other parties.  He has campaigned rigorously  but still the tour is not going to alter the fate in any big manner.  He wounded up his campaign at Tamilnadu after a meeting with the CM Ms Jayalalithaa.  Elsewhere, Mamata was quoted as saying that she would vote for Pranab for President but not happily.  

Though the election process would be completed only by 5 pm and results announced thereafter, Pranab is already shown as President of India in the text book of Gondwana University. The state-promoted Gondwana University's textbook, Indian Democracy, which is part of the BA course for students of political science, has the gaffe on page 84; a graphic on Presidents of India has Mr Mukherjee listed as the 14th.  An alert BJP man, former MLA Ashok Nete found the slip-up and has asked the state to hold an enquiry.

Gondwana University has quickly washed its hands of the matter saying it had not sanctioned its publication.  "We had not given any permission to the author to write this book or to publish it," the Vice Chancellor Vijay Ainchwar said yesterday.   The university said the author, Sanjay Gore, had been summoned to the university office, was given a strict warning and had been issued a show cause notice asking how he published the book without permission.

There have been 12 Presidents of India since the introduction of the post in 1950. The post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution. .  The current President is Pratibha Patil,  was elected as the 12th President of India in 2007.  Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms. Apart from these twelve, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became Acting President of India in 1969 following the death of Zakir Hussain, who died in office. Giri was elected President a few months later. He remains the only person to have held office both as a president and acting president.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.