All eyes on PU as students elect their council today
The election is taking place after a pandemic-induced gap of two years. Twenty-one candidates are fighting for four posts -- president, vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary. Eight, including two women, are in fray for post of the president.
Nearly 15,000 students will vote on Tuesday to elect the four office-bearers of the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC).
The election is taking place after a pandemic-induced gap of two years. Twenty-one candidates are fighting for four posts -- president, vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary. Eight, including two women, are in fray for post of the president.
Besides the office bearers, departmental representatives will also be elected today.
In the 2019 elections, Chetan Chaudhary of the Student Organisation of India (SOI) was elected the campus president. The year before, Kanupriya from Students For Society (SFS) had become the first woman president of PUCSC in 2018.
Student bodies fear a low voter turnout this year, owing to the festive season. PUCSC elections are traditionally held in September.
Peaceful campaigning
Campaigning had remained largely peaceful this time, barring a few squabbles between some student outfits. Though outsiders were barred from the campus, they continued to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with student leaders canvassing for support, much to the chagrin of students. Several hostellers were also fined ₹5,000 each for hosting outsiders over the past week. Two days ago, members of Students For Society (SFS) had claimed that their candidate Bhawanjot Kaur was stopped from campaigning in girls’ hostels 3 and 9.Two NSUI supporters were also taken into preventive detention. As per the police, Sachin, 27, of Sulhera village, Jind, and Robin, 24, of Tosham village, Bhiwani, got into a fight with each other on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday and were taken away by the police. The reason for the fight, however, is not clear.
Multi-cornered contest in offing
With eight candidates contesting for the president’s post, the stage is set for one of the fiercest competitions in recent years — given that only half the number of candidates were in contention in the last elections in 2019, while the numbers for 2018 and 2017 also remained low at six and four, respectively.
A neck-and-neck fight is expected between the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) that will be making its debut in PU elections this year.
In its maiden outing itself, CYSS, the student wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has drawn prominent faces from other student bodies, including Panjab University Students’ Union’s (PUSU) Nishant Kaushal, who was elected the campus president in 2016.
45,000 students of 9 city colleges to also pick their leaders
HT Correspondent
chandigarh@hindustantimes.com
At 8,758, the highest number of voters this year are at Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma College (GGDSD), Sector 32. It is followed by 8,427 students in DAV College, Sector 10, and 7,239 students in Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26.
There will be 56 polling booths at GGDSD, followed by 36 at MCM DAV College, Sector 36, and 30 at SGGS College, Sector 26.
In three of the colleges, the student body presidents will be elected unopposed. At Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Sheenam Rawat will be elected unopposed, at MCM DAV, Sector 36, its Shahista while at Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, Isha Moudgil will be elected unopposed.
The situation was largely peaceful at most of the colleges, though many students were seen leaving the campus, with luggage in tow, as many were looking to head home owing to the festive season.
