While the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections are due to take place this month, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) elections, which usually occur around this time of year, are yet to be held. have announced. Student parties are wondering if the elections will finally take place this year or will be skipped for the fourth year in a row.
The current JNUSU wrote to the university’s dean of students last week, calling for the “timely completion of the admission process and the facilitation of the student union election.” The statement noted: “The delay in admissions and the lack of a uniform academic calendar has become routine since 2020. This administrative ineptitude was justified in the name of COVID-19… However, even after the pandemic decreased…issues related to student representation Continued to be treated in a manner that reeks of a concerted administrative effort to deprive students of their right to elect representatives.”
Satish Yadav, JNUSU General Secretary, said: “PhD admissions are still in process. If the administration wants to hold elections after all admissions are finished, it will be too late. It is a democratic process and it must be held every year, otherwise there will be a burden on those already in the union.”
The last election was held on September 6, 2019. That year, the United Left Panel, made up of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), the All-India Students’ Association India (AISA) and the All India Student Federation (AISF) won the four core seats, sweeping the elections for the fourth consecutive year. Since then, there have been protests against the CAA and a protest against a proposal to increase hostel rates at JNU during which violence broke out with a masked mob attacking students and teachers.
Parties on both the left and the right believe that the elections are being deliberately postponed.
Umesh Chandra Ajmeera, Chairman of the ABVP, JNU, said: “It is not clear when the elections will take place and why they have not happened so far. When there are DUSU elections, why not JNUSU elections? Last year, we were told this would happen after PhD admissions, but these admissions went on for a long time. Also this year the admissions are taking a long time”.
N. Sai Balaji, former president of JNUSU, said, “It is a politically sensitive university for the government as they have not been able to get their narrative across and their organization has not been able to win.”
The Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendations state that elections should be held annually and between 6 and 8 weeks from the start date of the academic session.
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Balaji, who is a researcher at JNU, said: “The new academic session is generally considered to start after the last admission date, which sometimes extends to August 20. PhD admissions are not over yet and if the election is held earlier, PhD students will not be able to vote.”
A member of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association (BAPSA) pointed out a similar problem. “To include PhD students, the elections will be postponed once again, as was done last year. But we want it at least for November ”, he affirmed, adding that the delay in holding the elections has given the ABVP the opportunity to seek support.
A JNU spokesman did not respond to questions about whether and when an election is likely to be held this year.
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