On varsity poll eve,parties desperately seeking voters

Just over 52 per cent (6,550 out of a potential 12,500) votes were cast in the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) election last year,and with many students having returned home over the past few days,parties fear a far lower turnout this year.

The girls hostels are nearly half-empty,and residents are expected back only on Monday. The boys hostels are fuller in comparison.

“We expect a 35-40 per cent turnout,” said Gurvindervir Singh Aulakh,presidential candidate of the PUSU-INSO. “Most supporter- and party-votes are assured,but many neutral voters have left the campus for the long weekend beginning with the Janamashtami holiday.”

Some parties reached out to individual students living outside the campus,visiting areas like Dhanas and Maloya. “Every single vote counts. Party members are visiting students to persuade them to cast their vote. We are sending text messages and calling people to ask them to reach the university on Friday on time,” said ABVP party president Dinesh Chauhan. The ABVP is contesting in alliance with SOPU.

A SOPU member said the party was “educating students on how to cast their votes for both council candidates and Department Representatives”. They are being told to reach on time,carry their identity cards,and informed which gates of the university gates would be shut,he said.