PU senate: Polling for graduate constituency on September 26

The polling date has been announced in anticipation of the approval of the vice-president of India M Venkaiah Naidu, who is the chancellor of PU

After deferring it last month, Panjab University (PU) on Tuesday announced that the election for the registered graduate constituency of varsity senate will be held on September 26.

Of the eight constituencies of PU senate, the registered graduate constituency is the largest with around 3.61 lakh voters, who elect 15 members to the senate. (Image for representational purpose)

The polling date has been announced in anticipation of the approval of the vice-president of India M Venkaiah Naidu, who is the chancellor of PU.

The election date is also subject to the approval of one of the states (Uttarakhand), where polling booths are also to be set up for the registered graduate constituency.

The polling for the constituency was earlier scheduled to be held on August 18, but was deferred by PU on August 13 citing the non-availability of required polling booths in Punjab and Haryana at that time.

After deferring the polls, PU had last month again written to Delhi and Uttarakhand, seeking facilitation of the setting up of polling booths for the conduct of polls.

While the directorate of higher education (DHE), Delhi, has asked Delhi University to take necessary action and follow up the matter, PU hasn’t received any response from Uttarakhand yet.

The registrar of the Delhi University, north campus, has been directed to coordinate with the registrar-cum-returning officer, PU, regarding the conduct of polling for the registered graduate constituency.

Last month, the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Punjab, had informed PU that schools can be made available for setting up booths for senate polls on Sundays.

Of the eight constituencies of PU senate, the registered graduate constituency is the largest with around 3.61 lakh voters, who elect 15 members to the senate. Polling booths are set up across seven states/UTs. Polling for the other seven constituencies has already been held. Forty-three candidates are in fray from the constituency for election to PU senate. So far, elections of 32 members have been held from the seven constituencies of the senate.

Student to continue protest

The student bodies on Tuesday said that they will continue the indefinite strike on the varsity campus as one of their demands, regarding the reopening of campus for them, has not been met yet.

“The student bodies will continue the protest till the varsity releases the schedule of reopening of campus for students,” reads the statement issued by student bodies.

Various student bodies had launched an indefinite protest on August 14 after the varsity deferred polling for the registered graduate constituency of the PU senate.

The indefinite protest of students entered its 25th day on Tuesday.