Mumbai’s TISS allegedly scraps student elections, sparks protests

Student groups at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, are protesting against the institute’s alleged decision to scrap student body elections for the ongoing academic year

Student groups at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, are protesting against the institute’s alleged decision to scrap student body elections for the ongoing academic year.

TISS officials said that the elections cannot be conducted as students are not physically present on campus. (HT PHOTO)

While the institute has not issued an official statement on not conducting the student body election, institute officials said that the elections cannot be conducted as students are not physically present on campus.

“We looked for precedence of student elections in other universities but couldn’t find any. Student elections are a big event on campus. Conducting an online election will have its repercussions because there is the question of availability of resources,” said Asha Banu, dean of student affairs.

On January 19, all members of the institute’s student election committee 2020-21, a non-elected student body that facilitates and supervises the election process on campus, resigned from their posts.

“Since we as the committee are meant to conduct elections and establish the students’ representative body, the absence of any such body makes the existence of the election committee superficial and unnecessary,” the committee said in a statement.

The committee stated that it had been consistently trying all official channels to communicate to the institute and request student elections. It proposed online elections and/or the formation of an interim student body till the time elections could be held. “We would like to reiterate to the concerned authorities our request to conduct elections, through which student representation can be established in the institute,” said the EC in its statement.

This has sparked protests by student bodies on campus as the resignation is being seen as a protest by the committee. “The Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) – TISS Mumbai, views this behaviour of the administration as highly condemnable and not befitting of those running an institution known for its commitment to social justice and equality,” said a member of the PSF.

Banu, however, said that during the lockdown, a spontaneous system of representation has evolved through class representatives (CRs). “The CRs of various programmes are in continuous touch with the institute administration. Students issues are being highlighted via the CRs,” she added.