PU students’ elections on September 7

The schedule for the election has been decided. According to the schedule,nominations can be filed till September 3. The scrutiny of the nominations will take place on the same day and the list of candidates will be declared by 1.30 pm. Objections to the candidatures can be filed on the same day till 4.30 pm. Withdrawal of candidature can be done on the next day,September 4,and the elections will be held on September 7,Friday.

The elections are usually held every year on the first Friday of September. Students who file their nominations will have to produce a valid age proof for verification by way of a matriculation or higher secondary certificate from a recognised board.

According to the chief of University Security,P K Dhawan,all necessary arrangements are being made to enforce the code of conduct and the guidelines of the Lyngdoh Committee report.

…but students fed up with elections

With a vote bank of over 3,000 votes,the University Institute Engineering and Technology (UIET) department of Panjab University becomes the battle ground of all major parties during election campaigning. As soon as classes start at the department,all parties start wooing freshers to gain maximum votes,which results in numerous clashes.

In the past fifteen days,three such clashes have already been reported where police had to intervene to ensure peaceful campaigning. On Wednesday,a cultural event at UIET was disallowed from continuing after half-an-hour fearing clashes between student parties.

According to the Director of the department,Renu Vig,the students themselves don’t want the elections to be held in the department at all. “Many students have come up to me and suggested that they don’t want elections in the department as the campaigning process unnecessarily disturbs the environment of the university,” she said,suggesting that a question should be mentioned in the ballot paper asking whether students want elections in the campus or not.

Chief University Security,P K Dhawan said a similar proposal of not holding elections in the campus was made by the students of University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) a few days ago. “The voting is never more than fifty percent as elections are usually held on a Friday and most students leave the campus for an extended weekend vacation. There are others,who are here but still do not want to participate.” he said.