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Why were JNUSU poll results trends disclosed, asks JNU
Delhi high court restrained the university from declaring the results and notifying the new student’s council until further orders of the court.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration Monday sought an explanation from the members of varsity’s election committee on why they disclosed the trends of JNU students’ union (JNUSU) elections in violation of a Delhi high court order. The court, on Friday, had stayed the release of the JNUSU election results until further orders.
Umesh Kadam, dean of students’ and chairperson of JNU’s grievance redressal cell (GRC), said the election committee had indirectly disclosed the results by sharing trends. “What is the difference between sharing the trend and the results? Despite court orders against disclosing the results, the election committee went ahead and shared the trends. We will summon the committee members and seek an explanation over this violation of a court order,” he said.
Kadam said the university will submit a report in the high court mentioning all the violations made by the election committee.
Shashank Patel, chairperson of the election committee, said they will seek legal advice on the matter. “We have received a mail from the grievance redressal cell on Monday evening. We will meet and discuss the future course of action. We had decided to announce the trends, keeping the students’ interest in mind. We did not disclose the results,” he said.
The polling for JNUSU elections took place on Friday in which 67.9% students, the highest percentage in the past seven years, had voted. The same day, while hearing two pleas filed by students —the first, seeking elections in accordance with the rules laid by the Lyngdoh Committee and the second, challenging the rejection of nomination of a student for a councillor’s position— the Delhi high court restrained the university from declaring the results and notifying the new student’s council until further orders of the court.
The election committee on Saturday decided to go ahead with the counting and shared the trends. The committee, however, did not announce the final results and submitted it to the dean of students’ office in a sealed envelope on Sunday night.
The court will now hear the matter on September 17.
