JU to hold maiden elections to students union

@sahil Rasgotra

Jammu: Opening the doors for students' politics for the first time in its 48 years long history, the University of Jammu will be holding elections for students' union from this year onwards. The varsity had, so far, barred all sorts of political activities ever since it came into existence in the year 1969, besides barring all groups of any political affiliations to conduct any activity inside the campus.
Talking to The News Now, Dean Students Welfare, JU, Prof. Satnam Kaur said that the varsity will be conducting the elections to students' union from this academic session, implementing the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee.
"We had started the process of procuring permissions for elections from Universities syndicate and other concerning authorities, last year. With all permission granted, we are ready to establish a students' union in the university and elections to the union will be held this year only," Prof. Kaur said.
While the date of election is not yet announced but Kaur asserts that it would be conducted very soon within the first month of closure of admission to all departments. The elections would be held in offsite campuses of the university as well.
The university has, however, notified the Norms/Guidelines for elections on its official website which state elections for one post each of President, Vice-President, Secretary and two posts of Joint Secretary of the union would be conducted by a committee consisting of Election Commissioner, Presiding Officer & Returning Officer, nominated by the Vice-Chancellor from amongst the Faculty Members within one month from the closure of admission every year.
This move has come in the wake of Lyngdoh Committee's recommendations which was set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in 2006 as per the direction of the Supreme Court to reform students' union elections and to get rid of money and muscle power in student politics.
All that Jammu University had in name of student politics till now was Jammu University Research Scholars Executive Association (JURSEA), membership of which is limited only to research scholars. In JURSEA's case also, instead of open elections, as practiced in most universities across the country, Jammu University had been following a closed election pattern in selecting the members.
It is pertinent to mention here that the student politics in the other major varsity of the state, Kashmir University, has also remained a distant dream. While Kashmir University had recognized Kashmir University Students' Union (KUSU) in 2007, the union was banned after two years in 2009.
The guidelines for the election have stated that the union shall comprise of regular students on the rolls of the University pursuing any course of not less than two years duration. Students of all the 33 departments of the university would elect two students representatives each, one a research scholar (M.Phil./Ph.D.) and one from PG/UG courses, through a secret ballot. These elected Student Representatives from each Department would form an electoral college who will elect the Office Bearers of the Students Union.
The elections would be held on yearly basis and the entire process of elections, commencing from the date of filing of nomination papers to the date of declaration of results, including the campaign period, would not exceed 10 days. It also mentions that no student with less than 75% attendance or any criminal record would be allowed to contest in elections.
Implementing Lyngdoh Committee's recommendations, the university has set the maximum age limit of 25 years for UG/PG Students and of 28 years for Research Scholars, to contest an election. Also, those contesting must not have any academic backlog.
To keep out the political parties from the elections, the university has also barred candidates to have any contribution from any organization or party, besides banning use of printed posters, printed pamphlets, or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing.