LUCKNOW: After a gap of eight years, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has decided to hold elections to its students’ union on November 5, 2026.
The university administration announced that vote counting would begin at 7 pm on the same day. Nominations can be filed at the AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) office on October 29.
The decision followed extensive negotiations with student representatives, who had been protesting for the past 20 days, demanding that the elections be held.
Accepting another major demand of the protesters, the university administration removed Proctor Professor Mohammad Naveed Khan from his post and replaced him with Professor Nafees Ahmad Ansari, chairperson of the Department of Political Science.
Following the announcement, AMU students burst firecrackers, took out victory processions and raised slogans as they called off their protest.
“With the announcement of the election and the removal of the proctor, we have brought our protest, which had been going on since September 21, to an end. Yasir Fahad, an MA student who was on hunger strike, has also broken his fast. We will be the first university in the state to hold a students’ union election after such a long gap,” said postgraduate student Abu Maaz, one of the student leaders.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Naima Khatoon subsequently visited the protest site and offered Yasir Fahad a glass of juice, formally bringing his hunger strike to an end.
Maaz said the students had launched their protest on campus after the university administration failed to give any assurance that the students’ union elections would be held.
On the same day, Yasir Fahad began a hunger strike. As the days passed, more students joined the agitation. Former students of the university also visited the campus in solidarity with the protesters, even as several rounds of talks were held between the university administration and a student delegation.
Asked why the students were demanding the removal of Proctor Professor Naveed Khan, Maaz said they were dissatisfied with his functioning, alleging that he often acted against students’ interests. He also claimed that the proctor had used various tactics to pressure them into calling off the protest.
According to a statement issued by the university administration, Professor Javaid Talib of the Department of Law has been appointed chief election officer for the AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) elections. Professor Nazia Hasan of the Department of English at Women’s College has been appointed chief election officer for the elections to the Women’s College Undergraduate Students’ Union.
