Panjab varsity Chancellor orders fresh polls for choosing 6 fellows from constituency of faculties to PU Senate

Tribune News Service

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, April 9

Announcing an end to the controversy, the Vice President of India and Panjab University Chancellor M Venkaiah Naidu has ordered fresh elections for choosing six fellows from the constituency of faculties to Panjab University Senate.

He further ordered cancellation of previous elections, held last year in September.

“I decline to accord approval to the elections held on September 1, 2021. I am of the opinion that the Registrar, Panjab University, should issue a fresh notice of election for the election of six fellows by the faculties immediately and hold the elections by strictly following the provisions in the Regulations,” stated the order issued by the Chancellor. Six members, who were elected from this constituency, were from the Goyal group and are former senators. The Goyal group is known for holding power in the Panjab University Senate. They are Navdeep Goyal, Ashok Goyal, Rajesh Gill, Keshav Malhotra, Ronki Ram and Anu Chatrath.

The election of the constituency of faculties was held on September 1, after which some petitions were filed raising questions on the election of the candidates. Later, the chancellor’s office had requested the members to provide comments on the allegations raised by the petitioners by January 7, 2022. “On a perusal of the records of the university, it is apparent that no list of members of faculty was furnished to the voters along with the notice of election as perform prescribed in Appendix (S) of the Regulations in Chapter II(B). Instead, apparently following the past practice, the Registrar had prepared a draft electoral roll, invited objections and after examining any claims, finalized the electoral roll for elections by Faculties in the same manner as other constituencies. In other words, this constituency of Faculties was treated on par with other constituencies. Even though it seems to be based on past practice, it is, in my view, not in consonance with the Regulations,” read today’s order.

“What has further complicated the election process in the case of the faculties is the yearlong gap between the original date of election and the date on which it was finally held. In the inter-regnum, the assigned fellows’ term had ended and so had the term of the added members. As a result, only the ex-officio members were eligible to participate in the elections. For this particular election, the notice should have been issued separately and afresh in terms of Regulation in the format prescribed in Appendix S and the latest list of members of the Faculty should have been attached. This would have enabled a fair election to be held where only the eligible voters could exercise their voting rights.

“There was a lack of proper appreciation of significant differences between the election by Faculties and election from other Constituencies. Consequently, a situation has emerged where the voters’ list was not updated, ineligible voters were allowed to vote and some eligible voters could not vote. Taking all aspects into consideration, I am of the opinion that the elections by the Faculties have not been held as per extant Regulations and need to be held afresh by strictly adhering to the Regulations,” it added.

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