New Delhi: The counting of votes for the students union elections at Jawaharlal Nehru University was suspended on Saturday after some miscreants “tried to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes”.
“The counting process, which began on September 14, 2018, at 10 pm has been suspended due to some elements forcibly entering into the counting venue and attempting to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres,” Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union Election Committee 2018-19 said in a statement.
The statement further said that the nuisance was in addition to the “intimidation and violence on our Election Committee, including on our female members led by a Presidential and a Joint Secretary candidate”.
The students present near the counting centres alleged that around that ABVP workers were involved in the incident. “Around 4:00 am, ABVP broke the glasses of the School of international Studies building. The Election Committee stopped the counting indefinitely. The Election Committee has demanded an unconditional apology from ABVP as its members have been injured badly,” said Madhurima Kundu AISA Delhi state president.
In a statement, the ABVP denied the allegations. “The information being spread is a propaganda of the Left. It was Saurabh Sharma who has been attacked by Left unity goons when we requested the Election Committee to allow our counting agents to be allowed inside the counting booth. We condemn such hooliganism of Left Unity and believe that the issue should be resolved in consonance with JNUSU Constitution and law of land.”
The voting process got over last night with the varsity recording its highest voter turnout (68%) in recent times. The total votes polled are 5,185. Students came out in large numbers to vote, just ahead of the 2019 general elections.
A student said that they have come together against the new rules imposed by the current VC M Jagadesh Kumar, which includes compulsory attendance, scuttling reservations, and scrapping of GS CASH Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment.
For the post of President N Sai Balaji, 26, is representing the Left unity, while Thallapelli Praveen, 26, is standing from BAPSA.
The issue of compulsory attendance and restoration of reservation policies is close to Jayant Kumar of Chhatra Rashtra Dal and Vikas Yadav of NSUI. ABVP’s Lalit Pandey will work for making campus safe for women and improvement of hostel mess and also fight against the compulsory attendance.