70,000 doctors barred from voting in Maharashtra Medical Council Elections
Registration Renewal
Mumbai: Around 70,000 doctors in Maharashtra will be ineligible to vote in the upcoming Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) elections on April 3 due to the non-renewal of their licenses.
The MMC is a quasi-judicial body responsible for overseeing the medical profession and addressing malpractice and negligence cases. MMC has asked the doctors to renew their membership to remain eligible for voting and other privileges.
The Council has officially announced elections to select nine new council members. The elections will take place at each district headquarters under the supervision of the District Collector on Thursday, April 3, 2025, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
"The Election Commission of India and the State Election Commission conduct regular special drives for enrolment of voters. Updating the electoral roll is sacrosanct for democracy, but this has not happened with MMC members because of the council's lackadaisical attitude," said Dr Tushar Jagtap, one of the members of Healing Hand’s Unity Panel told TOI.
Several doctors have urged the MMC to allow them to participate in the elections while permitting late renewal of registration. On January 27, Dr Jagtap and other members of the ‘Healing Hand’s Unity Panel’ visited the MMC office in Chinchpokli to file their nomination papers. However, they were informed that the nomination papers were not yet available, prompting them to file a complaint with the registrar, citing "gross dereliction of duties" and procedural "lapses" in election preparations, reports the Daily. “These 70,000 registered doctors must be allowed to participate in this election and by no yardstick should the council take away their democratic right," they mentioned in a letter.
Despite demands to waive the renewal requirement for election participation, MMC officials maintained that doctors had been sent multiple reminders to renew their registration on time. "Nomination papers can only be finalised after a final list of candidates is prepared and a thorough scrutiny is carried out. The process got over only on Jan 31, and the papers should be available within the next few days," said the officials.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that 1,71,282 doctors were registered as Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) in Maharashtra till 2021-22, out of which, registration of 68,665 RMPs were due for up to March 2022, but not renewed till May 2022, revealed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.
