MUMBAI: Jai Jinendra, meaning salutation to the supreme Tirthankars, is a rather unlikely start to a message sent out to prospective voters. But that despatch from a Jain monk has seen hundreds of graduates enrol to participate in the upcoming Mumbai University elections.Seasoned political parties and their students’ wings apart, religious bodies are now jumping into the fray, so this year’s senate election for 39 seats which will provide the winners entry into the administrative and academic bodies of the varsity might just throw up some surprises. As the registration cycle ends today (June 30), these community groups are pushing members of their camp to sign up as voters. Holding special enrolment drives, using social media and messaging members across the city to register as voters for the “betterment” of the city’s public university, these bodies want to field community members as candidates.Kunbi Yuvak Mandal, part of the OBC Kunbi community of farmers, claims to have enrolled a little over 1,000 voters from the graduates’ constituency and will get two or three of its members to stand for the elections.The Konkan belt is their stronghold, and despite this being their first time, they are confident of winning good support.The Kutchi and Vagad community, under the banner of the Vagad Graduates’ Association, has held special registration drives to allow first- time voters to sign up. Ankit Shah , a committee member, said their members want to ensure the group has a stronghold in the university. “We feel any transformation in society can take place through education,” he added. If his association does not manage to make it to the senate, they are open to forging alliances with others.Similarly, Jain monk Naypadmasagarji, head of the Jain International Organisation , has in a text message called upon graduates to come out and vote in large numbers in the elections “to find solutions for pressing issues of admission and to discover new horizons for transforming Mumbai University into one of the world’s best”.Apart from the Yuva Sena, the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena, NSUI, Rashtravadi Congress Vidyarthi Sangathna, ABVP, Chhatrabharti, Vidyarthi Bharthi, SFI, Prahar Vidyarthi Sanghathana and Bahujan Vidyarthi Parishad are the heavyweights in this year’s elections.“The established parties started work a year ago. We have just started our outreach campaigns. So even if we have to join hands with some other party, we are open. We have already been approached by some parties,” said Sunil Gawde, secretary of the Kunbi group.Last time, around 45,000 graduates registered for the elections and there was 60% voting. It is believed, though, that despite so many parties and other bodies, the response to voter registration has been tepid. Organizations want the university to extend the deadline for signing up. This time around, it is free to register as a voter; charges of Rs 40 for fresh voters and Rs 20 to renew as a voter have been done away with.