By Dale Miller
In the wake of the most tumultuous Students’ Union General Election in U of C history, the SU has fired Chief Returning Officer Shuvaloy Majumdar.
The Students’ Legislative Council decided to terminate Majumdar’s contract after an in camera discussion on Tue., May 18. While no specifics were given for the termination, most members of SLC expressed their disappointment with Majumdar’s performance.
“We evaluated his performance and determined that he hasn’t fulfilled the expectations of the council,” said SU Vice-President Operations and Finance Greg Clayton, who moved the resolution to terminate Majumdar.
As to what those expectations were, Clayton referred generally to the CRO’s duties as outlined in the SU’s Election Bylaw. Among those listed are: maintaining voting stations, giving notice of the elections and doing all things necessary for the conduct of an election.
Not everybody on SLC was in agreement with the resolution to terminate Majumdar.
“I’ve never met anybody with such a passion for democracy,” said Academic Commissioner Ashley Martin. “If we terminate his contract we will be losing someone who will be very hard to replace.”
The 2004 SU General Election was overturned by the SU Review Board only to be upheld later by the SU tribunal–this has happened only once before in SU history. Majumdar’s involvement in incorrectly creating the ballot the night before the election resulted in many students being unable to vote on the first voting day. This was a major issue at the SU Review Board.
While his CRO contract is now terminated, there was some inconclusive discussion in SLC as to whether he would be allowed to apply for the position again.
“The CRO nomination committee will be posting the position’s availability and accepting applications soon,” said Clayton.
Majumdar is currently out of country and could not be reached for comment.