St Stephen’s new rules put students in a spot

The student’s union poll scenario at St. Stephen’s College this year bears an uncanny resemblance to the confusion and chaos of DUSU election in 2007, reports Ritika Chopra.

The student’s union poll scenario at St. Stephen’s College this year bears an uncanny resemblance to the confusion and chaos of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election in 2007.

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The recommendations of the JM Lyngdoh Committee, which St. Stephen’s has implemented for the first time this year, have put quite a few candidates in a spot and, like the DUSU polls, has resulted in last minute disqualification.

The nomination scrutiny as per the new rules has led to the ouster of one strong candidate out of the total three, who are going to contest the elections scheduled on August 20.

Maryam Fatima, a third year student of English (Honours), was disqualified on August 14 (that is four days before the polls) on grounds of inadequate attendance. Fatima’s attendance for the first two years is four classes short of the 75 per cent mark. Adnan Asmi, a third year student of B.A. Programme, and Manoj Rawal, also a third year student in Mathematics (Honours) are two eligible candidates for this year’s elections.

N. Raghunathan, member of the students' union tribunal, however has vehemently denied the allegation. “The new rules are in accordance to the High Court order of last year that indirectly upheld the validity of the eligibility rules laid down by the Lyngdoh report. Several students from different camps had approached me personally and I had showed them the University proctor's circular that spoke of enforcing court orders,” he said.