Following the continuous protests by the students union of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against the alleged inordinate delay in the students' elections, Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Wednesday, January 17, stated that the varsity will soon hold the elections once the new session will begin next month.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, the vice-chancellor stated that she has signed a file today (January 17) finalising the date for the new semester.
"February 1 will be the last day for the verification process of the admission while it has been decided that from February 2, the new term will kick off. So accordingly, the elections will be held as stipulated by the Lyndogh Committee. That is within six to eight weeks from the commencement of the term," Santishree added.
She also said, "There has been no delay in the students' elections like what the students are claiming. Student elections are held only after the new term begins and we were waiting for the PhD admissions to end. JNU is a research university and 65% of our students are research students and we were waiting for the admission process to end. We never had an issue with the elections. It is just that the elections will be held as per the Lyngdoh guidelines."
Meanwhile the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) on Jnauary 17, gave a call for 'Gherao DoS' (Dean of Students), demanding the immediate conduction of JNUSU elections, addressing the hostel infrastructure, the opening of Barack Hostel, release of hostel and single seater list.
One of the JNUSU leaders said, "Although the dean of students met the JNUSU delegation, there was no concrete response regarding the election dates. The only response received was regarding the hostel lists, which will be processed by the end of this month."
The JNUSU also gave a call to the student community to join in the protest calls and to not cooperate with the administration unless the dates of the elections are declared.
The JNUSU also made an appeal to students to gather at SL-SIS lawn today, January 18 at 11 am and take part in the Postcard Campaign to the Visitor of the University to collectively raise the demand for 'campus democracy'.
Commenting on this, the VC Santishree said, "The poor visitor has no role to play in this but it may be a part of their campaign. Meanwhile, it seems that the students are protesting in order to gain votes already."
