Even as nominations were filed by hopefuls for the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections to be held on August 31, the day was mired with controversy as some candidates cried foul about their nominations getting rejected. While Panjab University (PU) usually releases the total number of nominations per post every year before the list is finalised, this year the numbers were not released owing to these complications.
The final list will be released on Tuesday after scrutiny and giving candidates the opportunity to withdraw their nominations by the Dean Students Welfare (DSW) office.
Till Monday evening, members of Students Organisation of India (SOI), the student wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal, continued to sit on protest outside the Dean Students Welfare (DSW) office. As per Harkamal Singh Bhuregill, who is managing SOI’s campaign in PU this year, their candidate Pranav from the department of chemistry had 78% attendance before Monday and on Monday it was reduced to 68%. Their supporters continued to raise slogans against the PU authorities and tried to break into the DSW office while a meeting regarding this was going on in the evening. The party also temporarily blocked gate number 2 while protesting on Monday night.
The candidature of Ankit Bidhan, presidential candidate of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was also not cleared initially by the department during departmental scrutiny on Monday. He is a research scholar at the centre for the study of social inclusion, Panjab University and students had complained how there is currently an ongoing FIR against him. He was allegedly involved in an internal fight between two ABVP factions at their office in Sector 15 in March 2024. A senior ABVP member said that since chargesheet has not been filed in the case, Bidhan is still eligible to contest the election as per the Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines. They had submitted their reply to these objections raised by the department. The final decision regarding him and the SOI candidates eligibility will be taken on Tuesday. However, ABVP still held a show of strength for Bidhan at the Students Centre on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}The candidature of Ankit Bidhan, presidential candidate of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was also not cleared initially by the department during departmental scrutiny on Monday. He is a research scholar at the centre for the study of social inclusion, Panjab University and students had complained how there is currently an ongoing FIR against him. He was allegedly involved in an internal fight between two ABVP factions at their office in Sector 15 in March 2024. A senior ABVP member said that since chargesheet has not been filed in the case, Bidhan is still eligible to contest the election as per the Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines. They had submitted their reply to these objections raised by the department. The final decision regarding him and the SOI candidates eligibility will be taken on Tuesday. However, ABVP still held a show of strength for Bidhan at the Students Centre on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}Things heat up for ASAP at department of laws
Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) also got involved in a controversy at the department of laws after department officials highlighted how outsiders were campaigning for their presidential candidate, Aadil Brar, which led to an argument. In a video going viral the outsider who is allegedly related to a MLA from Punjab was seen arguing with students near a staircase in the department.
The department held a meeting regarding this and it was resolved that the allegations and counter allegations by both parties in the video were factually incorrect and it was circulated with an attempt to malign the image of the candidate Aadil Brar. A notice regarding this was issued by the department.
Apart from ASAP, outsiders of other parties including NSUI were also seen on campus, even as PU claims they have stopped the entry of outsiders into campus. Newly formed student party Saakhi also unveiled their candidate for the vice president post, Manmeet Kaur of University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS).
While the final list of candidates for the PUCSC polls is usually released around the afternoon, but it can also get delayed. Last year, while going over some of the objections to the candidatures of the students including Ashmeet Singh Mann for Sath, it took till night for the final list to be released.
ASAP first to form alliance for PUCSC polls (box)
The Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) has announced an alliance across all four seats. This is the first alliance formally announced for this sessions’ PUCSC polls.
ASAP which is contesting for the presidential post with Aadil Brar has now aligned with Panjab University Democratic Front (PUDF), a new party formed by breaking away from Students Organisation of India (SOI). They will field Armaan Singh Bhinder for the vice-president seat. Indian National Students Organisation of India (INSO) candidate Aryan Saharan will be the pick for general secretary and independent candidate Vishal Bimal will be their pick for joint secretary.
Interestingly this is not the first time ASAP has been in alliance with INSO. In 2024, ASAP which at that time was named Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti had aligned with INSO under the same arrangement with CYSS candidate Prince Chaudhary for president and INSO candidate Vineet Yadav for the post of general secretary. However, Prince had been unable to win the president seat that year while Yadav won the general secretary seat. The alliance will provide an influx of Haryana votes to ASAP which is currently doing better with students from Punjab.
Other major parties are also looking into forming alliances as parties like National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad are both likely to contest only for the presidential seats while they will look to form alliances for the other three office bearer posts of the PUCSC.