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Court seeks JNU stand on plea challenging student body polls
The plea was filed by a student called Sakshi claiming that the elections were being held in violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations
The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) stand on a plea challenging the process of conducting the upcoming Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections.
A bench of justice Sachin Datta asked JNU and the varsity’s Dean of Students to file their reply and listed it for March 15 for further consideration.
The plea was filed by a student called Sakshi, enrolled in Bachelor of Arts in Persian Course at the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies claiming that the elections were being held in violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations (LCR).
In her plea, she contended that though LCR had recommended for conducting elections between 6 and 8 weeks after the commencement of an academic session, the upcoming polls scheduled for March 22, were being conducted at the end of the academic session.
“The conduct of the Respondent in notifying the JNUSU Elections 2023-24 at the fag end of the Academic Session is nothing but an eyewash and mockery of democratic process, aimed at pacifying a certain group, and as such serves no purpose,” read the plea.
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She, while challenging the varsity’s February 16 notification authorising two students— Aishe Ghosh and Md Danish to conduct a general body meeting (GBM) for formulation of the Election Committee (EC), had also sought for conducting fresh GBM in accordance with the LCR, claiming that the appointed chairs for the GBM were prominent members of a specific political organization.
“EC members should not be associated/affiliated/linked with any political group/party/organization in any sense. The named EC members who have been elected are directly associated with some political organizations. The democratic integrity of the institution has been compromised by the undue influence of certain political entities espousing certain ideologies. These political parties have manipulated and attempted to rig the election process under the guise of the GBM, with the aim of promoting their own political agenda,” read the plea.
She had also challenged the varsity’s January 30 and March 6 notification of inviting students of selected organizations for meetings and notifying the list of EC members along with the Chairperson Election Committee (CEC) of the Election Commission for the polls.
Seeking to also quash the same, she contended that notifications seek to give sanctity to the flawed and unfair process adopted to notify and conduct the JNUSU Elections 2023-24, including the selection of the EC, and, is mala fide, unreasonable, arbitrary and illegal.
To be sure, the Supreme Court in 2005, had directed the Centre to constitute a committee headed by JM Lyngdoh, a former chief election commissioner of India, to suggest measures to ensure fairness and transparency in holding elections to students’ unions in various universities across the country. The committee had submitted its report on May 26, 2006. The apex court in September 2006 had directed that the recommendations shall be implemented and followed by all universities for student elections.
