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Panjab University defers polling of all constituencies of senate
Development comes a day after varsity postponed the May 3 elections after the Punjab government advised it keeping in view the pandemic
Panjab University on Saturday decided to postpone the polling dates of all the constituencies of the senate, the apex governing body of the varsity.
“Considering all aspects, it becomes infeasible to hold the senate elections on the dates already notified, hence the competent authority has decided to postpone the elections of all the constituencies for the time being,” read the order issued by PU registrar on Saturday.
The varsity has said that the new polling schedule will be issued separately after taking into account the latest Covid guidelines of all concerned states—Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The development comes a day after the varsity postponed the May 3 (Monday) elections after the Punjab government advised it keeping in view the pandemic.
Last month, the Himachal Pradesh government also withdrew the permission given to the varsity to set up polling booths in the state for the registered graduate constituency.
The polls for the election of six members to the PU senate from the constituencies of faculties were earlier scheduled to be held on April 26, but these were later postponed to May 19.
HC had pulled up PU V-C for delay in polls
The polling schedule was issued by PU last month after the high court had pulled up vice-chancellor Raj Kumar for the delay, asking the varsity to conduct the polls within two months.
Ex-senator Navdeep Goyal, who is contesting from faculties, said, “Keeping in view the present circumstances, it is a wise decision taken by the university.”
“We understand the sensitivity of the situation and nothing is more important than human life. We hope that elections will be held as soon as the situation allows, unlike last year when the elections were postponed arbitrarily and without any justification,” added another ex-senator, Ashok Goyal.
The senate is a 91-member apex governing body of PU in which 47 members are elected from various constituencies. The four-year term of the last senate had ended on October 31, 2020. While the elections were scheduled to start in August last year, these were postponed twice by V-C Raj Kumar due to the pandemic. The varsity is presently functioning without a governing body.
The term of the syndicate, too, had ended on December 31 last year, followed by those of the faculty deans on January 31 without selection of their successors.
