The student union representatives on Friday demanded to postpone the upcoming students’ union poll of Ranchi University (RU) scheduled from December 11. The students’ union leaders unanimously stated that the university is merely conducting the union election to somehow accomplish its duty.
Pointing out on some major loopholes just two days before the commencement of election procedure, the student representatives opined that due to the negligence of RU Controller of Examination, AK Jha, approximately 67,000 students will eventually not be allowed to vote in the election as they are yet to get enrolled in the electoral list.
The student leaders after presenting their list of demands to RU Vice-Chancellor (VC), Dr. Ramesh Kumar Pandey said that the admission process at several colleges has been pending. The students are yet to get enrolled at their respective colleges in part-2 and part-3 due to the laidback approach of the Examination Controller stated the leaders. Also, a few of them said that the decision to conduct election in mid December was taken in haste without consulting college principals, students’ union representatives and Minority College Heads.
Worried over the decline in polling percentage that the students’ union election had witnessed in past, RU Students’ Union (PG) president Tanuj Khatri said, “None of the student union parties will allow this election to take place without proper preparedness of the university. As per the two years record, the total polling percentage in 2007 was 57 per cent which considerably declined in 2016 to just 24 percent. Merely, just for the sake of conducting election, the university is conducting it.”
“We too are also not in favour of postponing the election; however, looking at the preparedness of the university, we are compelled to ask the university head to verify the situation at colleges. From admissions to conducting meetings with the principals, union representatives, none of the work was fairly completed by the university,” Khatri added.
Representatives of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM), Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS), National Student Union of India (NSUI), Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM), Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) including others were present on the occasion. According to the student leaders, RU Examiner Controller has accepted his fault in the closed door meeting while the RU VC has assured them that he himself will take a reality check of the situation giving a clear hint of rescheduling the election dates.
Meanwhile, the RU VC remained tight-lipped over the issue of postponing the election dates and just said, “Only after clarifying the details with college principals about admission, preparation of electoral list some step will be taken.” In addition when asked about the decision of colleges, especially those who have cancelled the examination in the wake of upcoming election, he added, “Even I am surprised regarding this as university has not issued any notification regarding cancellation of semester examination by far for any college.”