Low turnout at Panjab University V-C office protest as focus shifts to Sector 43 farmers' gathering

Amid the deployment of heavy police and reserve forces, the protest site outside the Panjab University Vice Chancellor’s office saw a low turnout of demonstrators demanding notification of the university’s Senate elections.

With the main attraction shifting to Dussehra Ground in Sector 43—where Punjab-based farmers’ unions are hosting a massive gathering—the protest on the university campus is currently witnessing a lukewarm response.

Protesters maintained that representatives of the farmers’ union would reach the campus around 1 pm and simultaneously address the gathering there.

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Meanwhile, farmers’ union representatives have begun arriving at the Sector 43 venue, where a stage is being set up for their address.

The PU Bachao Morcha, backed by more than 50 student unions, farmer outfits, social groups and employee bodies, has announced a complete campus bandh on Wednesday, similar to the November 10 protest when the university witnessed violent scenes.

The university has already declared a holiday, with all departments closed and the administration block heavily guarded by police. Markets inside the campus are also shut.