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Psephologist Professor Retiring...

This poll season, it is not only the team of V S Achuthanandan that is bidding goodbye to office. Renowned psephologist G Gopakumar, who has been livening up poll debates on television with his expert comments, is stepping down as the head of Kerala University Political Science Department on March 31.


Gopakumar, who completes 36 years of service as a teacher, will continue to be active in the academic sphere. ''I am yet to decide on my future plan. So far, I haven't planned anything in my career. Let something turn up,'' Gopakumar told 'Expresso'. Gopakumar has a handful of assignments till May 13, when the Kerala Assembly results would be announced.

One of the seniormost political science professors in the State who has already produced 25 PhD theses and authored 23 books, Gopakumar is a renowned name in the academic circles abroad. As a visiting faculty, he has taught in several universities in the US, Canada, Australia and Thailand.

Gopakumar has several international honours to his credit, including the Indo-French Cultural Exchange Award, Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship, Salzburg Award and Australia-India Senior Fellowship. Under the leadership of Gopakumar, the Department of Political Science entered into academic collaboration with a number of universities, including Claremount Graduate University, California, University of Calgary and McGill University, Canada and University of Sydney.

It was his association with Yogendra Yadav and the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) that projected his abilities as a psephologist. ''During the national elections of 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 and the Assembly elections in 2001 and 2006, I coordinated the grand social science survey project of the CSDS,'' said Gopakumar.

''When I was visiting Australia a couple of years back, two students ran up to me and inquired, when I reached there. I was surprised at the recognition in a foreign country. Then, they said that they used to see me analysing elections on TV,'' said Gopakumar acknowledging that the visual media has earned him respect from the public, while academic achievements had won him respect from the student community.

On March 31, Gopakumar is also leaving the post of the Director General of the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs in Thiruvananthapuram. ''A number of seminars and training programmes could be organised during by brief stint as the DG,'' he said.