Centre notifies PU Senate poll, protesting students call it ‘fateh’

Ending weeks of tense standoff, the Centre today accepted one of the primary demands of Panjab University’s protesting students, with Vice-President of India and PU Chancellor CP Radhakrishnan approving the Senate election schedule submitted by Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig on November 9.

The formal communication, a copy of which is with The Tribune, issued by Sarita Chauhan, Under Secretary, Vice-President Secretariat, and received by the PU VC this evening, states that the Chancellor has approved the schedule of Senate elections “as proposed in the aforementioned letter”.

The decision comes 27 days after The Tribune broke the PU overhaul story on November 1,

triggering a massive political firestorm across Punjab and Chandigarh. The Centre was forced to withdraw its controversial restructuring move within a week, issuing a record four notifications between October 30 and November 7. However, the rollback failed to pacify the students, who, supported by nearly all anti-BJP political, religious, social and civil society groups, including Nihang organisations of the Quami Insaaf Morcha, continued a relentless indefinite dharna, which saw two campus shutdowns and an unprecedented youth protest on November 10.

The news of the Senate poll approval spread across the dharna site like wildfire. Students, braving the dipping mercury on the lawns outside the VC office, burst into celebrations, calling friends, leaders and supporters to join what they described as their “fateh”. Sweets, slogans and emotional embraces marked what many called the “first real breakthrough” of the movement.

In a significant gesture, Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig reached the protest site for the first time since November 1, conveyed the Chancellor’s approval, and appealed to students to call off their agitation. She said both their core demands — rollback of the overhaul and approval of the Senate poll schedule as per the pre-October 30 structure — now stood met, adding that the administration would “sympathetically consider other genuine demands through dialogue”.

The PU Bachao Morcha welcomed the notification but had not formally decided whether to withdraw the dharna when last reports came in.

According to the approved schedule, the first poll notification will be issued in January 2026, followed by elections for principals and staff of professional colleges on September 7, 2026, teachers’ constituencies on September 14, heads and faculty of affiliated arts colleges on September 20, and the Registered Graduate Constituency also on September 20, with vote counting on September 22. Elections for various faculties on the campus are slated for October 4, 2026.

Today’s breakthrough marks a dramatic turning point in a confrontation that had united a wide spectrum of Punjab’s political and social outfits against the Centre and pushed the PU into one of the most volatile phases in its post-1966 history.