Jamia students want union elections restored, will march to V-C’s office

Various student groups, including the NSUI, CYSS, AISA and the Jamia Students’ Forum, have come together under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) to demand polls.

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Jamia Milia Islamia University (File photo)

With student union elections at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University wrapping up recently, students of Jamia Millia Islamia are demanding that their union elections — banned since 2006 — be restored.

Various student groups, including the National Students’ Union of India, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, All India Students’ Association and the Jamia Students’ Forum, have come together under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) to demand polls.

The JAC has decided to march to the V-C’s office on October 5 and submit a memorandum. “If he doesn’t announce polls by October 10, we will escalate our protest. We have been without a union since 2006, and it’s because of the administration. If they submit an affidavit stating that they want to hold elections, everything can be sorted,” said Meeran Haider from the Jamia Students’ Forum.

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Speaking to The Indian Express, Jamia V-C Talat Ahmad said, “Let them march… The matter is sub-judice, I cannot take any decision.” Polls were banned in 2006 over allegations by Jamia that student representatives had started interfering in administrative work. In 2011, three former students moved the Delhi HC demanding a students’ union.

The University told the court in 2012 that it is open to conducting polls, but nothing has happened since.

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