NEW DELHI: DEMANDING the authorities to hold students’ union elections without further delay, the National Students Union of India (NSUI) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has released a pamphlet written to the Dean of Students and other officials. JNU held the last students’ elections in 2019.
“It seems like ever since the coronavirus pandemic, the university administration has used it as an excuse to dismantle all democratic practices and processes in the university,” said an NSUI student activist. He further said, “From delaying admission process and hostel allotments to callous handling of students’ elections, the university administration has destroyed the space of students’ representation.”
“Not holding students’ union elections aims to deprive students a formal democratic platform to raise their voices and assert their rights,” another activist said. The pamphlet issued by NSUI read, “Right from 1975 when the first students’ union elections were held, JNUSU elections are a formal way to give a path of leadership, resistance, and struggle to the students. Students’ Union has been an important medium to fight for the rights of the students against all sorts of draconian rules and regulations.”