The Hindu : New Delhi News : Enthusiastic response to JNU students' elections

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Sunday, Oct 29, 2006
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Enthusiastic response to JNU students' elections

Staff Reporter

211 candidates file papers for central panel seats

NEW DELHI: Kicking off the race for the ballot in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Saturday, the last day for filing of nomination for the JNU Students' Union elections, saw an enthusiastic response from students. With plenty of participation in terms of parties as well as candidates, the four central panel seats received 211 nominations, while 167 candidates filed papers for councillors and 18 filed for posts on the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).

"There have been new significant political groups that have decided to contest the JNU elections this time. There is much more participation than last time. There are more pamphlets, stalls and more parties. The political canvas has expanded and every student has to identify with some group or the other. The fight is not among only tradition groups, old issues and ideology. Political dynamism has entered into the psyche of the entire student community,'' said the chairperson of the election committee, Netajee Abhinandan.

A learning process

With most members of the election committee new to JNU elections, Saturday night promised to be a learning process for them.

"These nominations will now be scrutinised by the election committee. A detailed and lengthy procedure, the scrutiny often takes the whole night. And to ensure that there is no tampering, the election office is sealed,'' said Mr. Abhinandan.

Starting the election process in earnest, the election committee also received its first complaint on Saturday. The complaint was made by Youth for Equality activists who claimed that they were "manhandled" by ABVP workers when they went to file their nominations.

"The election committee has taken note of the issue and will look into the matter,'' said Mr. Abhinandan.

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