CUTTACK: Keeping in abeyance the process of direct election for students’ union, the authorities of Ravenshaw University have decided to adopt an alternative model of representation for the election with an aim to avoid violence.
In the first step towards this process, the Students’ Union has been rechristened as Students’ Council. Basing on the proposal of the Executive Council, the students’ representatives will be elected from nine schools constituted by the university. Those are School of Life Science, Physical Science, Mathematical Science, Information and Computer Science, Commerce, Management Studies, Social Science, Regional Studies and Earth Science and School of Language.
As per the decision, each Under Graduate class will elect its representative directly through secret ballot at the department level. If a class has more than one section, each section will have to select one representative, sources said.
All the elected representatives from each class will become member of Student Council of the respective school. In every council, there will be posts for a convener and a deputy convener. The Dean of each school will oversee the process of election at the department level.
“With the new method of election, the university has taken into account some of the fundamental aspects of popular democracy, like decentralisation, direct and enlarged basis of representation and secrecy of ballot,” said Vice-Chancellor Prakash Chandra Sarangi, while addressing mediapersons here on Thursday.
The new model is aimed at preventing the role of external forces, use of money power and violence in the election process and also following Lyngdoh Commission recommendation, he added. However, the decision of the varsity has not gone down well with many. Members of All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation(AIDSO) undertook a signature campaign on Thursday to protest the decision.