PU Senate poll process starts; protest continues

Two days after the Centre was forced to roll back its controversial Panjab University (PU) overhaul, the university on Sunday formally kicked off the process for the Senate elections — even as students refused to end their indefinite dharna, now in its ninth day, and vowed to go ahead with Monday’s massive show of strength.Highly placed sources told The Tribune that the PU had submitted the detailed Senate election schedule to the Chancellor and Vice-President of India for approval, in line with the Panjab University Act, 1947, and the university calendar.

The move follows the Centre’s withdrawal of the restructuring notification — the fourth on the same issue within a week — after sustained student protests and political backlash.

The Tribune had first broken the PU overhaul story, triggering a storm across Punjab and Chandigarh and drawing an unusual cross-party pushback. Even after the rollback, student groups termed the Centre’s actions “a series of dictatorial flip-flops” and vowed to continue their campaign until the election dates were publicly announced.

The support for the agitation has swelled, with endorsements pouring in from almost all political parties — Punjab’s ruling AAP, the main opposition Congress and the SAD — besides the SGPC, Nihang groups under the Quami Insaaf Morcha and the Himachal Pradesh Government through its minister Vikramaditya Singh. Only the BJP — which has welcomed the rollback — remains outside the solidarity line-up.

According to the timetable accessed by The Tribune, the university has proposed issuing the first poll notification on January 23, 2026, with voting for the Registered Graduate Constituency slated for September 20, 2026, followed by elections for teachers, principals and other categories through September-October. Counting will follow within two days of polling.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig appealed to students and campus organisations to withdraw their protest and restore normalcy, saying the initiation of the election process “leaves no place for doubts or uncertainty”. At a meeting with around 20 student groups, the Dean Student Welfare and the warden informed them that the schedule had already been sent to the Vice-President’s office and that previous delays were due to pending reform proposals.

However, student organisations stood firm, declining to withdraw the protest call for November 10. The PU Bachao Morcha assured the administration that it would ensure a peaceful demonstration, even as the agitation continues to evolve into a youth-led movement that has become a major point of concern for the Centre.