Explainer: Why student elections remain banned

IT was in March 2018 that former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, while addressing the state Assembly, announced that “from the next academic session (2018-2019), direct student body elections will be held in universities and affiliated colleges”. He specifically mentioned Guru Nanak University (GNDU) in Amritsar, Punjabi University in Patiala, and Punjab Technical University in Jalandhar.

The announcement turned out to be a damp squib. The Congress never brought up the topic again; its term ended in 2022. Even the Aam Aadmi Party government has chosen not to broach the subject.

What led to discontinuation

Student elections in Punjab’s universities were discontinued in 1984 when terrorism was at its peak. The ground looked rife for their revival after the return of normalcy during the tenure of Chief Minister Beant Singh in the early 1990s. His assassination on October 30, 1995, put paid to any such plans.

The All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), originally focusing on promoting Sikh values, was among the leading proponents of a radical movement during the days of militancy in the late 1970s and 1980s. University campuses — particularly GNDU and Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana) — were seen as hotbeds of youths supporting extremist ideology. The Patiala campus of Punjabi University was no exception.

When activists resorted to violence during protests and demonstrations, elections were banned from the 1984-1985 session.

Voices for and against

Students from GNDU and Punjabi University raised the issue of restarting elections on campuses when they joined Panjab University students in Chandigarh recently to protest the now withdrawn new governance model. Punjabi University students had demanded restoration of the university Senate in 2017. GNDU student organisations have often been in the news for raising issues concerning students.

Former minister Brahm Mohindra says, “There can be no excuse for not conducting elections in a democracy. Elections might look difficult these days, but nothing is impossible if the government wants it. Elections are the best training grounds for building leadership qualities, shaping young minds for issue-based debates and taking decisions.”

According to former Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University Arun Grover, “Elections are not happening because no political party wants it. Students are basically seen as anti-establishment forces.”

GNDU Vice-Chancellor Prof Karamjeet Singh says “taking different aspects into consideration, it is the government which decides whether or not to have any elections”.

Those opposed to student elections on university and college campuses feel that the process allows unnecessary influence of political parties and disruption of studies.

Campus to state politics

Several leaders first made their mark in student politics. Senior Akali leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, an alumnus of Punjabi University, was appointed as the first president of the Youth Akali Dal. Brahm Mohindra was an active student leader during his days at Mahindra College, Patiala.

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, a student leader of DAV College, Chandigarh, in 1976, went on to become the district president (Gurdaspur) of the Punjab Youth Congress before being appointed as vice-president.

Former Congress MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra remained president of the PU Student Union for nearly a decade. Dalvir Singh Goldy, also a former PU leader, became an MLA on the Congress ticket.

HP, Haryana on same page

Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has over 100 affiliated colleges but no elections have been held since 2014. The ban followed repeated incidents of violence and clashes in HPU and colleges.

In Haryana, a ban on holding student elections was imposed by the Bansi Lal government in 1996 following incidents of violence.

Indirect elections were held after a 22-year gap in 2018 — class and department representatives in colleges and universities were chosen and they further elected the president and other office-bearers.

This process too lasted only a year, and was discontinued.