NEW DELHI: As the Friday sun rises, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is all set to go to polls to elect the members of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU). According to the final list of electorates released by the JNUSU election committee, a total of 7,751 voters shall cast their ballots to elect the students’ body.
After a prolonged hiatus of four years and following much strife between students’ organisations and the authorities (also among themselves), the university notified the election of the students’ union, announcing the constitution of a 42-member Election Committee (EC) to oversee the polls proceduures on March 6.
The polling of votes will begin at nine o’clock on Friday morning and will continue till 5:30 pm. The counting of votes is slated to commence 9 pm onwards on the same day. However, the declaration of final results has been scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 24.
Nomination filing commenced on March 15 and the final list of candidates was released on March 16 by the EC, showing that nominations received include 45 contenders for the post of president, 43 for vice-president, 44 for general secretary, 38 for joint secretary, while there are 258 nominations for councillor posts.
Under the model code of conduct enfored by the JNUSU election committee, candidates are prohibited from engaging in corrupt practices such as voter intimidation or bribery, with a strict campaign expenditure limit of Rs 5,000 per candidate.
While Thursday was a no-campaign day at JNU, the Students’ Federation of India released an alternate manifesto claiming that in times of neo-liberal attack on public education and privatisation of education, it is essential that students take the battle to the streets.
Women safety on campus, improving hostel facilities, discrimination within campus, increasing the stipend amounts, improving opportunities for minority and underpriviledged communities were some of the issues put forth by the candidates at the presidential debate ahead of the JNUSU polls, held on Wednesday evening.
The presidential candidates debated on a range of social and political issues. Each candidate got 12 minutes to speak, after which an empty ballot was circulated among gathered students to drop their questions for the respective candidate.
ABVP’s presidential candidate, Umesh Chandra Ajmira, expressed confidence of a victory in the polls and highlighted the developments under its leadership and its efforts in advocating for student rights.
Following the presidential debate, students took out a ‘mashaal juloos’ (fire-torch march). The entire route from the Jhelum Lawns to Ganga Dhaba was swarmed with the students carrying ‘mashaal’.
