A senior official from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) informed on Thursday, October 5, that the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) elections are likely to be held by January 2024. The announcement comes after JNUSU wrote to the Vice-Chancellor's Office demanding the immediate commencement of the elections.
The entrance exam for admission to PhD courses at JNU is scheduled for this month. According to the official, the process for JNUSU elections will be initiated after the new students in the 2023-24 PhD batch are enrolled, in order to give them the opportunity to participate in the polls, as mentioned in a PTI report.

"We may hold the JNUSU elections by January. The process for the elections will be initiated after the conclusion of PhD admissions for the new academic session and the scholars arrive on campus. Jawaharlal Nehru University is a research university and we don't our scholars' representation to be missed during the elections," the official said.

The official also informed that semester exams were currently underway for master's and bachelor's programmes. "The students will get busy with the elections if the polls are held now and it will impact their attendance in classrooms," he remarked.

"The Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations, in conjunction with the Supreme Court order of 2011, mandates that a candidate must attain a minimum percentage of attendance to be eligible for the polls. If we hold the elections right now, students will fall short of the attendance criterion and it will also be unfair for Masters and Bachelors students who are undertaking exams currently," he added.

Notably, on September 18, the students' union held a general body meeting to discuss the delay in the elections. JNUSU elections have not been held since 2019, as per PTI.