BENGALURU: In a meeting convened with various student organisations on Wednesday, Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar and Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said the government would conduct student union elections as per the recommendations of the JM Lyngdoh Committee report.
Sudhakar said that elections will be held this academic year only with modifications suited to current conditions on the campuses. During the State Budget 2026, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced to conduct elections to form students unions in universities and colleges. Dr Sharanprakash said that the elections will be complementary in terms of making students aware of the democratic aspirations of the Constitution.
Student organisations urged the government to conduct elections without delay. Student leaders representing Left-affiliated organisations — Lekha Adavi, Veena Naik, Shivappa, and Dodda Basavaraj of SFI, AISF, AIDSO, and AISO — called for structured representation in the elected bodies, demanding reserved seats for women candidates.
Aditya N Raj of Vidyarthi JDS struck a regional note, urging that 70 per cent of seats be reserved for Kannada-speaking students. Gopi Rangaswamy and other representatives of the ABVP urged the ministers to lay down eligibility criteria for student candidates, including a minimum attendance threshold of 60 per cent and the absence of any pending FIR or academic backlogs.
This drew objections from Keerthi Ganesh of NSUI and Vidyarthi JDS representatives, who argued that several students may have earned FIRs while participating in pro-Kannada demonstrations. “It is not fair to bar a student based on attendance or an FIR. Everyone should have a fair chance,” they said. However, at the same time, members of the governing body in colleges and universities highlighted that if elections are held, the academic progress of students will be hampered. They also expressed that the governing body would not object if the state government framed election rules and regulations so that there would be no disruption in the educational activities and no rowdyism on the campus.