Patna Univ set for polls amid strict guidelines, voting on February 28

The Code of Conduct for the PUSU elections has come into effect with the announcement of the election schedule released by the PUSU chief patron and officiating vice-chancellor Prof Namita Singh

No printed posters or pamphlets, no use of loudspeakers, vehicles and animals, no extravagance and above all, no direct involvement of political parties … these are some of the measures for the candidates vying for the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) elections, 2025-26.

Patna University

As per the statute approved by the Chancellor in keeping with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee, no candidate shall be permitted to make use of printed posters, printed pamphlets or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing. They may only utilise handmade posters and photo copies for the purpose.

No procession or public meeting should be held without prior written permission of the proctor/ principal, said a senior PU official familiar with the matter.

“While there are political student wings active, the Lyngdoh Committee aimed to restrict the high-stakes, big-budget campaigning characteristic of major political parties, focusing instead on a “campus-centric” approach, which should be the essence of student polls. Political parties should not be directly involved in student elections,” said a PU official.

The Code of Conduct for the PUSU elections has come into effect with the announcement of the election schedule released by the PUSU chief patron and officiating vice-chancellor Prof Namita Singh, who has tried to streamline a lot of things in her just over four-month tenure. With this, the previous PUSU stands dissolved. The election will be held on February 28, said a PU notification.

This time the election is being held before the end of the one-year stipulated tenure of the PUSU to lay a platform for timely polls in future. The election in 2025 was held after a gap of over two years, while in the past elections remained held up for years. After 1984, PUSU polls could not be held due to fear of violence till 2012 and after a gap of over five years it was held next in 2018.

A senior PU official said that there could be around 20,000 voters in PU and the final electoral roll would be published on February 10. The nomination forms, along with rules for conduct of election and the code of conduct as per the 2018 statute approved by the Chancellor, would be available from February 11-14.

The nomination filing will take place from February 16-18, while scrutiny of forms will take place on February 19 and the final list of candidates will published on February 21 after the date for withdrawal of candidature.

The campaigning window will be from February 21 to February 26 evening within the stipulated time during the day allotted for it, as per the provisions laid down in the statute.

During canvassing, the candidates and their supporters have to carry authenticated identity cards issued by the institution or election office. Proper accounting of all the expenses has to be maintained and it has to be submitted within a stipulated period of two weeks for scrutiny by observers.

Candidates should not utilise funds from any other source than voluntary contributions from the student body. No candidate shall be permitted to make use of printed posters, printed pamphlets or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing. They may only utilise handmade posters and photo copies for the purpose.

The election will be held for five Central panel posts, besides those of councillors in 10 different postgraduate faculties and councillors for each college.

In the last Assembly PUSU poll, three of the five central panel seats had been bagged by girl candidates, including the post of president by the BJP-affiliate Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the posts of vice president and general secretary by independents, in a keenly found election.

Despite the JD-U candidate having a near clean sweep winning the seats of president, vice president, joint secretary and treasurer in 2022, it stayed away from poll in 2025.

Another significant aspect of the last election, which witnessed lowest voter turnout in the last three elections at just 45.25%, was the preference for independent candidates, who bagged two central panel seats.

Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) had made a strong presence despite contesting independently, with its candidates winning two seats for the first time after a very long period and ending as runners up in the election for the posts of president and vice president.

The candidates backed by Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party had drawn a blank to witness yet another reversal after the by-elections last year. Jan Suraj had contested four seats after withdrawing from the presidential race. Jan Suraj was in contention for two seats, but ultimately lost.

The RJD student wing, which also contested independently despite the presence of NSUI and left parties, also drew a blank. ABVP’s Maithil Mrinalini had last time scripted history as the first woman president of PUSU.