“My vote is for you. Please don’t disturb me”, a poster pasted on the door of a room in a hostel of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) sums up the mood of the election of the students union.
Obviously, fed up with frequent visitors seeking votes for their group several students have put up ‘don’t disturb’ messages in various forms. But it doesn’t mean the campus is not beehive of any election activity.
Visit the canteens, school buildings or the hostel messes and it portrays a different picture. Intense discussions on the winning chances of various groups among students are visible while candidates themselves use the opportunity to personally seek votes.
In tune with the prevailing political atmosphere, the Telangana issue has occupied the prime space here too. In fact, a joint panel of the Telangana Students Association, Dalit Students Union and Tribal Students Forum is in the fray competing with independent panels of SFI and ABVP apart from the Democratic Front of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) and NSUI.
Other issues
Other major issues dominating the scene are the alleged transfer of university land to “outside” agencies, fee increase and for better facilities in the hostels. “We have prevented efforts to transfer the university land and it will be our agenda this year too apart from core student issues like the fee hike proposal,” says Parmesh, SFI State committee member and university in-charge.
‘Mostly social issues influence the voters here though the core student issues too matter,” says V. Vamsikrishna Reddy, a Ph.D. scholar. Mr. Reddy says, an alliance of SFI and ASA is now split giving an edge to ABVP. Several students also agree that ABVP has captured power earlier when votes got split between three major groups — SFI, ABVP and ASA.
Divisions on religious and regional lines will have an impact on the poll results, several students say. Traditionally, HCU’s student body polls have been peaceful devoid of any violence unlike other universities. Moreover, the elections are conducted by an election commission constituted by the students themselves without the direct intervention of the administration, an unique feature by itself. Elections will be held for seven posts on October 18.
