Maharashtra Medical Council Polls may be held online this year

Mumbai: For the first time in the history of the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), the elections for the council are likely to be held online this year.

Taking a step in this direction, already the Medical Education Ministry of Maharashtra has sought out companies having expertise in conducting online elections, sources informed TOI.

The State medical council polls have been delayed for eight months since the tenure of the last governing body of the council ended on August 7, 2022. Back then the State had appointed JJ Hospital dean Dr Pallavi Saple as the administrator of the Council.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had approached the Bombay High Court and filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of the administrator of MMC. 

Filing the plea, IMA sought direction to the State for conducting the MMC elections among the registered medical practitioners and nominate five members as per Section 3(3)(a) of the 1965 law.

Further, the association also prayed to the Court to give charge to the outgoing members of the MMC for performing their duties during the interim period until the new council gets constituted.

While considering the matter, Bombay HC had questioned the State to inform the court about the time when the elections for constituting the governing body of the Council would be held.

Also Read: HC seeks response from State on pending elections for Maharashtra Medical Council

In the PIL, IMA further claimed that the appointed administrator conducted only one ethical committee meeting between October and December and no executive or general body meetings had been held during that period. On the other hand, the State claimed that the number of pending medical negligence complaints had decreased from 700 to 500 as a result of multiple meetings. The matter has been listed for further hearing in June.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the elections for the medical council will be held online this year. Confirming this, a senior state official told the daily that the decision for holding online elections was made after the previous election in 2017 saw only a 30% turnout. 

“Many doctors from rural and interior areas couldn’t cast their ballot in person. This forced us to think how to increase their participation,” mentioned the official.

“With over 1.8 lakh registered doctors, of which 1.3 lakh are active, a 30% turnout is minuscule,” the official added.

The daily adds that the members of IMA and former members of MMC have been upset with the repeated failure of the State for holding polls for the medical council on time.

Commenting on this, the senior vice president of IMA (national), Dr. Jayesh Lele mentioned that IMA had reminded the State Medical Education Department about the fact that the tenure of the medical council was ending. Even though Maharashtra Medical Council Act allows extending the tenure of the medical council, the State did not extend it and dissolved it instead. Further, the State appointed an administrator in October. He further mentioned that despite writing to the chief minister, no "imperative action" was taken.

Former members of the Medical Council have also criticised the decision for dissolving the council and they opined that the authorities generally reserve such a drastic move for instances of abuse of power or other serious allegations. They also pointed out how the day-to-day operations of the council got affected due tp the dissolution of the council.

Also Read: Maharashtra medical council elections (MMC) update