Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday led a delegation of student representatives of three Uttar Pradesh-based Central universities and met Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal here to demand holding of students' union elections.
Mr. Gandhi was accompanied by student representatives from Benares Hindu University (BHU), Allahabad University and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
“The students, along with Rahul Gandhi, met me and explained the aspirations of students that they should be integral part of the democratic process of the universities to take forward academic excellence,” Mr. Sibal told journalists after the meeting.
Mr. Sibal said the Ministry felt that students should be an integral part of the democratic processes of the universities and those concerns would definitely be conveyed to the universities concerned.
While there had been no union elections in the BHU since 1997, elections in Allahabad University and AMU were last held in 2004 and 2007 respectively.
The Vice-Chancellors of the universities are believed to be against holding students' union elections, fearing violence.
