Student polls: Two Panchkula colleges get student representatives after 22 years

At the student union polls held after 22 years, Chirag of Government Post Graduate College of Sector 1 and Pooja Sharma of Government College For Girls Sector 14 were elected presidents of the student unions in their respective colleges on Wednesday. The winning panel at the Sector 1 college is said to be affiliated to BJP student wing ABVP and at the girls college, the winning panel was said to be affiliated to INLD student wing INSO even though the party is officially boycotting the polls.

Elections had been banned in Haryana since 1996. The BJP government in Haryana had promised to bring back student union polls, but direct elections are still not allowed. The elections held on Wednesday were indirect and three established students’ unions affiliated to political parties – NSUI, INSO and SFI – had given the call for a boycott. The BJP-affiliated ABVP was the only students’ party that did not announce a boycott. However, the nomination of candidates was not on party lines.

The two colleges in Panchkula are affiliated to Kurukshetra University and the elections were held as per guidelines issued by KU, said an official. Anil Panday, Assistant Professor, Government Post Graduate College Sector 1, said a total of 98 nominations were received for the posts of class representatives (CRs) but after scrutiny, 88 nominations were finalised.

Over 1,900 students elected 24 CRs of different departments and the CRs in turn elected the president, Panday told Chandigarh Newsline. According to the results of Government College Sector 1, Chirag was elected president, Gurjant vice-president, Amit Rana secretary and Sapna joint secretary. Though the college authorities claimed that the students did not belong to any political party, Chandigarh Newsline has learnt from college students and others that all the winning candidates belong to ABVP.

“We have not allowed the students to enroll themselves through any student political party for the elections and they were voted as student class representatives but they have themselves claimed that they belong to ABVP,” said Panday.
Meanwhile, Chirag, student of MA I and elected president of Sector 1 College, said, “It is a great day for the students as the student polls were held after 22 years. The college staff has been supporting us and we have cooperated with the college staff too. We do not allow any political party to come and campaign in the college but we get our guidance from ABVP which works only for the students.”

At the Sector 14 Government College for Girls, Pooja Sharma was elected president, Mamta Sharma vice-president, Navneet Chaudhary secretary and Dipti joint secretary. Adarsh Deep Kaur, Associate Professor, Zoology, said, an indirect election was conducted here. A total of 62 nominations were received for the class representatives’ contest out of which 22 were elected by the students. The students then elected four posts of the student council from the 22 CRs unanimously without casting any vote.

Meanwhile, Pooja Sharma, student of MCom I and elected president at the Girls College, said, “The students are happy here that student elections have finally been held which is required in every college. A student union enables to create a link between the students and the college authorities and we will help to sort out the problems and raise the issues of students with the authorities. We do not belong to any political student party.”

Adarsh Deep Kaur said elections were conducted peacefully and no student was allowed to either enter the college or cast vote without an ID card. However, at Government College for Girls at Sector 14, after the results were announced, a group of students, said to be affiliated to ABVP, protested the results. According to sources, the winning panel there on all the four posts were affiliated to INSO (Indian National Students Organisation). More pictures, page 2

News Source (Indian Express)