Hours before the student body elections at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) began on Friday, March 22, 2024, the United Left Panel candidate for the post of general secretary, Swati Singh, received a notice from the Election Committee cancelling her nomination. She wrote to the Election Committee chairperson on Friday morning, calling the move “unfair”, and asking the EC to cancel the post and conduct re-elections.
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In 2023, she was rusticated from campus, after which the High court quashed the rustication order. On Friday, she claimed that the decision was taken after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) written to authorities. The Hindu reached out to the EC chairperson who has not responded until now.
The EC notice dated March 22, stated, “This is to inform you all that, as per the order of GRC dated 21 March, 2024. vide No. JNU/DOS/JNUSU/2023-24/ the candidature of Ms. Swati Singh contesting for the post of General Secretary in the Central Panel stands cancelled.”
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Her letter to the chairperson written early Friday morning, “It has come to my notice that the JNUSU Election Committee has issued a public notice cancelling my candidature for the post of General Secretary. This notice was issued at 2:00 AM on March 22, just 7 hours before the beginning of polling.”
In 2023, she was rusticated and declared “out of bounds” from the university after allegedly manhandling female security guards. Last month, the High Court quashed the rustication order, refuelling her hopes of standing for elections. She added in her letter that it was grossly unfair to the electors to cancel a candidature on polling day.
On Friday morning, she said, “I do not even have the time to go to court as elections are ongoing.” Yesterday, the ABVP posted a video of the incident that Swati had been rusticated for, asking people to vote for ABVP instead of the left if they want to vote for “naari shakti”. Meanwhile, the United Left Panel will be fielding another candidate for the position.
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The cancellation came days after the ABVP had written to the authorities regarding the same.
On March 19, ABVP JNU unit Secretary, Vikas Patel had written a complaint to the Dean of Students stating that she was not eligible to contest elections due to “pending proctorial fines”. The complaint read, “It has come to light that she has proctorial fines against her, and according to the rules of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations (LCR), a person who has proctorial fines against her cannot contest for the election. Please verify the same through the proctor office and cancel the candidature of Swati Singh, keeping in mind the rules of the LCR.”
The United Left Panel on Friday issued a statement condemning the cancellation of her nomination. The panel has nominated Priyanshi Arya who will be contesting for the General Secretary position instead.