After 3 years, JU students' polls to be held

Kolkata: The stage is set for the student elections at Jadavpur University on Wednesday after a gap of over three years. The campus wears a different look with banners and posters of the different student bodies highlighting their respective agendas and taking a dig at one another on various contemporary issues that range from Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). In January 2017, the last student elections were held at the varsity.

Elections will be held in Arts, Science, as well as in the Engineering faculty. This is for the first time when Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has fielded candidates in Arts and Engineering stream. Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das has appealed to all stakeholders of the institute to "remain calm and maintain peace" during the students' union polls.

Das, in a statement issued recently, expressed hope that the "long-standing tradition of cooperation and harmony on a university campus would be upheld" on the day of elections.

"We (Democratic Student's Front) have been winning the student union elections in engineering at JU since 1977. We never impose decisions upon the students. During any student movement, the decision is taken at the general body (GB) meeting and we go with the same. We always speak of direct democracy," said Aishwarya Dev Goswami, a member of DSF.

There will be elections for five posts in engineering- chairperson, general secretary and three assistant general secretaries (day, evening and Salt Lake campus). There are around 7,000 students who are expected to cast their votes.

The Arts faculty that had witnessed a change of guard many times and in the student polls it is expected to have over 4,500 voters. Student Federation of India (SFI) had swept the last student polls in the Arts stream. " We have campaigned against CAA and NRC. JU has a tradition of peaceful elections and we will try our best to ensure that no disturbance from outsiders occurs," said SFI leader Debraj Debnath.

Around 1,700 students are expected to vote in the Science stream and there will be voting for four posts in both Arts and Science faculty.