Allegations of foul play and some drama surrounded the declaration of the final list of candidates allowed to contest the students’ union elections at Jawaharlal Nehru University here on Wednesday. A protest was carried out in front of the union office when a candidate’s nomination was cancelled.
Rumours of an assault on an Election Commission member and a fist fight were also doing the rounds, but The Hindu could not ascertain whether any of these were true.
“A visually-impaired candidate, Dheeraj Kumar’s candidature for general secretary was cancelled without giving us a valid reason, and so we decided to protest in front of the students’ union office,” said Mrityunjay, a friend of the disappointed candidate.
“There are a lot of rumours doing the rounds and most of us do not know what to believe. The EC has called an emergency meeting just before the General Body Meeting where all the shortlisted candidates will be introduced as is tradition,” Lenin Kumar, the outgoing president of the newly dissolved JNUSU.
There are a total eight candidates in the fray for the post of president, five for the post of vice-president, six for general secretary and three for joint secretary.
The elections will be held on September 13, the same day when Delhi University goes to the polls.