The student council elections for the current academic session at Hyderabad’s The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) will be held in the coming week, on November 19.
However, it seems that the students are not completely content with the way elections are being conducted.
Speaking to EdexLive, Sreeja Dontireddy, an EFLU student and a member of DISHA students’ organisation, highlighted that the notification for EFLU Students Council elections was released late this time.
“The election notification was issued very late this time. Starting November 21, students will be on preparatory leave, and from the 27 onwards, semester exams begin. We raised our concerns about this, pointing out that the elections are being held in a very hasty manner,” Sreeja expressed.
Apart from this, the students have also expressed discontentment with the administration’s decision to create a faculty-only election commission for the 2024-25 student elections, which excludes student representation.
“The election commission should include student representation, and its members should be elected by the general body meeting of the standing student council. However, this did not occur last time, as there was no standing student council in place. This time, although a student council exists, the administration formed an election commission composed solely of faculty members,” Sreeja added.
It is also interesting to note that the administration disqualified Sreeja Dontireddy, who was running for the post of General Secretary for the DISHA students’ organisation, citing the guidelines set by the Lyngoh Committee.
According to the Lyngoh Committee’s recommendations, candidates are allowed only one opportunity to contest for the post of office bearer and two opportunities to run for an executive member position. Since Sreeja had previously contested for the post of President, this rendered her ineligible to run for General Secretary in the current election.
EFLU says…
Speaking about this, an EFLU spokesperson explained that the decision to create a faculty-only election commission was made in response to the clashes that occurred last year between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Left-wing student groups during a General Body meeting before the elections.
“We decided to establish a faculty-only election commission due to the misconduct that occurred last time,” the spokesperson said.
“As for the delay in the election notification, it was caused by a slight delay in the academic session, as we do not currently have a regular vice-chancellor. Additionally, it is important to note that neither the administration nor the faculty members have any vested interest in the elections. Our focus is entirely on student welfare, he added.”
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