: Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have decided not to follow Lyngdoh committee recommendations for the university polls, and go by the JNU constitution instead.
A resolution regarding this was passed at a General Body meeting attended by members of the students’ union and other students on Tuesday night.
“The JNU students’ union polls will be conducted as per the JNU constitution,” said JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid, adding that “the Lyngdoh panel mandate has various arbitrary clauses which we have always been opposed to”.
JNU had revived the election process in the year 2012 after elections were suspended in the university for four years over non-compliance with the committee recommendations.
The recommendations were implemented with a view to keep money and muscle power away from campus elections.
The committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh had in 2005 recommended a cap of Rs. 5,000 on election expenses per candidate, besides formulating other rules for cleaning up campus politics.
In 2006, the Supreme Court had directed that these recommendations be implemented.
After a four-year legal battle, JNU students had agreed to a five-point relaxation to them from the recommendations, and went ahead with the polls.
The aspects of the Lyngdoh panel mandate that the students have been opposing include a cap on the number of times that a candidate can re-contest, the reduction of the campaign time from a month to a week, and curb on expenditure allowed for the poll campaign, among others.
Other resolutions passed in the meeting included launch of a national campaign against attack on universities, and demanding justice for Rohith Vemula.
The Lyngdoh panel was set up to keep money and muscle power away from campus elections
