PU polls 2023: With 35% vote share, 3 depts may swing outcome

A significant 35% voters belong to three PU departments — University Institute of Engineering and Technology, University Institute of Legal Studies and department of laws — where the voting trend will be closely watched as the bellwether of wider campus mood

As many as 15,693 enrolled students are eligible to vote in the upcoming Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) elections on September 6, 4.7% higher than 14,984 in 2022.

Workers bringing in ballot boxes ahead of the September 6 student polls at Panjab University on Saturday. While Sunday will be a holiday, Monday will be the last day of campaigning. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Of these, a significant 35% belong to three varsity departments — University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) and department of laws — where the voting trend will be closely watched as the bellwether of wider campus mood.

At 2,527, the highest number of eligible voters are from UIET, followed by 1,900 from UILS and 1,100 from department of laws. With 5,527 votes in all, they make up for 35% of the total vote share. Three of the total nine presidential candidates are also from these departments.

Prateek Kumar, the president hopeful from Students For Society (SFS), is an engineering student at UIET, while Students Organisation of India (SOI) candidate Yuvraj Garg and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate Rakesh Deshwal are pursuing law degrees at UILS.

With the highest vote share, through the years, UIET has been known to sway leads as counting of votes from the department begins.

With 645 votes, Dr SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology is in the fourth position in terms of number of votes, followed by Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital with 512 votes.

On the other hand, departments with the lowest number of enrolled students include department of Vivekananda Studies with just two, department of nuclear medicine with four and sophisticated analytical instrumentation facility with six.

Meanwhile, with just two days left for campaigning that will come to a close on Monday, varsity’s south campus was bustling with activity on Saturday. In contrast, most of the north campus remained relatively quiet, with a handful of students congregating at Student Centre, even though it was a working day. Most parties have a separate head for the southern campus.

Members of PU Sath party, who had gone to announce their vice-president candidate at UIET, exchanged some heated words with SOI members, who allegedly passed objectionable comments and misbehaved with them. Police had to intervene to quell the argument.