Chandigarh: UIET a crowd puller as parties try to woo voters in PU’s biggest department

Supporters of all four parties were seen throwing stickers and shouting their candidates’ names as an act to promote their presidential candidate

Even though University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) doesn’t have a single candidate in the fray for any of the four Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) office bearer posts, it has become the most happening department in the build up to the PUCSC polls scheduled on August 31.

On Thursday, all four presidential candidates were seen campaigning near the UIET Cafeteria at the same time. (Keshav Singh/ HT)

All candidates can be seen campaigning in the area against each other daily. On Thursday, all four presidential candidates were seen campaigning near the UIET Cafeteria at the same time.

Supporters of all four parties were seen throwing stickers and shouting their candidates’ names as an act to promote their presidential candidate. Each student party has planners or strategists who work behind the scenes, and can be seen observing what’s going on.

Speaking about the importance of UIET department, student leader Navpreet Ganga of Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) said, “Other major departments have stopped their classes, while UIET is still holding classes daily. With new students, many of who don’t even belong to this region, it is important to create a grand first impression among them.”

While PU is yet to release the voter details for this year, last year UIET had over 2,500 votes from the department. It has remained the biggest department with maximum number of voters over the previous years, and it also registers a high voting percentage.

A senior member of National Students Union of India (NSUI) further added that with no candidates in the fray, the voters of UIET don’t have an allegiance as of now and all parties are trying to woo them. Apart from senior party leaders, former PUCSC office bearers including PUCSC president Jatinder Singh Virk, PUCSC vice presidents Ashmeet Singh Mann and Ranmeekjot Kaur; and PUCSC general secretary Deepak Goyat were among those who were seen campaigning here.

While campaigning, the Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines are also going for a toss. Despite highlighting this issue, countless stickers were again thrown at UIET on Thursday while the authorities continue to turn a blind eye to this mockery of rules.

Parties confront each other amidst heated campaigning

Meanwhile, tensions ran high as Ashmeet Singh Mann of Sath had a face off with a UIET professor. In a video gone viral, Mann in a classroom accused a UIET professor of being biased towards Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and urged students to vote for Sath.

Sangrur MP Meet Hayer who is incharge of ASAP’s poll campaign also held a media interaction and accused PU authorities of having links with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in order to help ABVP with their campaign. He also talked about students getting threat calls for not voting for ABVP. He gave the example of a male research scholar from Himachal Pradesh who along with her family received such calls.

Meanwhile, ABVP also faced issues near University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) where some supporters of ASAP accused them of being outsiders and started shouting slogans ‘Outsiders go back’. However, ABVP members confirmed that those seen in the video including their candidate Ankit Bidhan are all students in PU, while ASAP themselves have been routinely using MLAs and other outsiders in their own campaigning.