NEW DELHI: Polling began at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) on Friday morning amid much excitement with the students’ union elections being held after a gap of four years.
There was an hour’s delay in the commencement of poll proceedings, scheduled to start at 9 am, as a selection of polling agents took a while. Students gathered around polling stations hours before the polling began. Sloganeering continued throughout the day. ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans were heard from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) camp while the united Left front were heard echoing cries of ‘Lal Salaam’.
A total of 7,751 students were registered to cast their votes in the JNUSU election according to the election committee. The results are scheduled to be declared on Sunday, March 24.
The candidates
As per the election committee, eight candidates (1 female, 7 male) shall contest for the post of the president while and 4 candidates (1 female, 3 male) seek the vice president’s post.
ABVP’s potential candidates for the central panel include Umesh Chandra Ajmira, Arjun Anand, Govind Dangi, Deepika, and Kavya. The NSUI has put forward Kunal Kumar, Shudhandhu Shekhar, and Farheen Zaidi as potential candidates. Umesh Kumar Yadav from the Students’ Federation of India, Swati Singh from the Democratic Students’ Federation, and Dhananjay from the All India Student’s Association have been fielded by the united Left organisations. However, Swati Singh’s candidature was cancelled hour before polling began.
Candidature revoked
Only seven hours before the polling was scheduled to begin, the JNU administration cancelled the nomination of the general secretary candidate of the United Left Panel, Swati Singh. This came days after the ABVP had written a complaint to the authorities regarding the same.
With the cancellation of her candidature, only ABVP & BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association) are now left as the main contenders for the general secretary’s post. A JNU alumni said this could be a real opportunity for BAPSA to make it into the central panel for the first time.
Swati Singh on Friday morning wrote “JNUSU election committee has issued a public notice cancelling my candidature for the post of general secretary... just seven hours before the polling. It is grossly unfair to the voters to cancel a candidature on polling day which vitiates the fairness of the election process.” She appealed to the election committee to cancel the election for the post of general secretary and conduct re-election following re-nomination of candidates.
Admin’s defence
“It has come to notice that some students have allegedly raised certain motivated slogans during the event of presidential debate of JNUSU election on March 21 which are totally unacceptable as it may hurt sentiments of various sections of the JNU community.”
“The administration has taken cognizance of the matter and the security branch has been instructed by the V-C to immediately look into the matter and submit its report,” the notice further read.
V-C seeks report on ‘objectionable slogans’
The JNU Vice-Chancellor (V-C) on Friday asked the security branch of the institute to submit a report on certain “motivated” slogans raised during the presidential debate on campus. “The administration has taken cognizance of the matter and the security branch has been instructed by the V-C to look into the matter and submit a report,” a statement. On Thursday, certain candidates attacked the central government over issues of Manipur violence and electoral bonds.