No Student Union Elections This Year

HYDERABAD: Despite the University Grants Commission (UGC)’s recent diktat to the universities to conduct student union elections, elections in state universities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh may not be possible this year. As the decade-long ban on university elections still continues in both the states, the institutes are showing  little interest in conducting elections.

The UGC has recently asked all universities to have an elected student representative body and sought a report from the institutes on their method of election and arrangements. As per the UGC’s notice, the universities were supposed to submit the report by September 18.

However, so far none of the state universities from TS and AP responded to the notice. Let alone submitting the report, the universities did not even approach the state government in this regard. A senior official at Kakatiya University, Warangal said, “We cannot take the final decision on it, because it is not purely academic issue. We must consult the state government.”

Osmania University also stated similar reasons for not responding to UGC’s letter. Ravindranath, Dean of UGC affairs at OU, told Express, “Considering the current situation, we could not respond to UGC’s letter immediately.” The report would be prepared only after consulting university officials and the state government, he added. 

Osmania University received a mixed response from students and faculty members on conducting elections. Some students supported the idea of having an elected students’ body, while some have opposed, stating that it would heat up the political atmosphere on the campus.

Although it depends on the state government’s decision either to lift the ban on elections or to continue it, OU officials are planning to place a proposal on conducting elections at the university’s standing committee’s meeting that is scheduled to be held in this week.