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Journalism of Courage
PU STUDENTs8217; ELECTIONS: Amid indecisions, chaos and confusion, parties spend Sunday trying to reach out to maximum voters, finalising strategies
With the students8217; elections in Panjab University just a few days away, student bodies are busy utilising every single moment. Taking no chances, each party is ready with its poll strategy and is trying to reach out to the maximum voters possible.
The parties spent the Sunday afternoon campaigning in the girls8217; hostels while the evening was reserved for the boys8217; hostels. This year8217;s elections are set to be different from the previous ones, with the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations in force.
Newsline takes a look at what is going on in the campus.
SOI takes a u-turn
When Newsline had reported earlier that the Students8217; Organisation of India SOI was going to form an alliance with the Indian National Students8217; Organisation INSO, the former had refuted the report and declared Parambir Singh Sunny as its presidential candidate. On Sunday, however, the INSO declared its panel with Sukshdev Kundu, senior research fellow with the UGC Environment Science, as its presidential candidate and Parambir Singh Sunny of UILS as the general secretary.
Parties reach out to girls
The parties campaigned hard at the girls8217; hostels on Sunday, motivating them to vote for them. Talking to Newsline, SOPU president Barinder Dhillion said: 8220;The votes of girls are definitely important. We are personally reaching out to all girls on the campus and we promise them support of every kind.8221; Most of the parties, however, do not have any girl campaigning for them.
Confusion over alliance
After SOI, which declined an alliance first and then accepted one with the INSO, it was the NSUI that exhibited indecision. It remained busy deciding the alliance till Saturday and finally went ahead with SOPU. Members of the NSUI kept holding meetings with both SOPU and PUSU leaders till late evening and finally decided to truck with SOPU. The party took a long time to reach a consensus as the members remained divided on the alliance. Half of them wanted to forge an alliance with SOPU while the rest wanted to go with PUSU. The NSUI knew too well that it was a very weak party to contest independently and had to form an alliance.
Panels not decided yet
The student unions contesting the polls are yet to decide their panels, courtesy the Lyngdoh Committee8217;s recommendations. With the committee barring leaders with criminal cases registered against them from contesting the polls, the parties are finding it difficult to get candidates. While many of the old candidates cannot contest now, not many new students are willing to jump in the fray. The parties are to submit the panels by Monday.
