90% students who voted in referendum want V-C to resign, says JNUSU

The referendum came in the wake of multiple protests by the JNUSU against comments made by Pandit in a podcast interview in which she allegedly made a derogatory remark about Dalits.

Around 90% of the 2,409 students who participated in a referendum conducted by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) voted in favour of vice-chancellor Shantishree Dhulipudi Pandit stepping down, the union said on Wednesday.

The JNUSU said the outcome of the referendum reflects sentiments widely held by the student community.

Addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India, the JNUSU said the outcome of the referendum reflects sentiments widely held by the student community.

The referendum, titled “A casteist and corrupt VC has no place in JNU”, was conducted by the JNUSU on Tuesday. Sixteen booths were set up across different schools on the campus and the exercise was overseen by former members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA), the union said.

The referendum came in the wake of multiple protests by the JNUSU against comments made by Pandit in a podcast interview in which she allegedly made a derogatory remark about Dalits.

“A total of 2,409 students voted in the referendum and 2,181 students (90.54%) voted against the continuation of the vice-chancellor. A total of 207 students (8.59%) voted in favour of her continuing as V-C and 21 votes were declared invalid,” the JNUSU said.

The JNU administration did not comment on the matter.

Calling the referendum undemocratic, Christhu Doss, a professor at JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies, said the VC’s comments should have been examined through debate and discussion.

“I find the vice-chancellor’s remarks debatable, and given JNU’s rigorous academic and intellectual culture, it should have been discussed and debated rather than addressed through a referendum,” Doss said.