JNU Students Union Elections to Be Held Within Eight Weeks from February 2: Notification

The Jawaharlal Nehru University on Tuesday issued a notification announcing the JNU Students’ Union elections, which is pending for the last four years, will be held within eight weeks from the date of commencement of the academic session for PhD students on February 2. The move comes hours after the JNU’s students union threatened to launch an agitation against the university administration. The notification stated that the elections will be held between six to eight weeks of the commencement of the academic session for the PhD students. “This is to bring to the kind notice of all concerned that JNU Students Union Elections 2023-24 will be held between 6 to 8 weeks of commencement of the academic session for PhD students i.e February 2, 2024,” the notification read. A detailed guidelines for holding the students union elections will be issued by the Office of Dean of Students in the due course, it added.

Earlier in the day, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) called for a ’university strike’ on January 30 demanding to notify the students union elections at the earliest. The students union submitted a fresh memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit to conduct the JNUSU elections and revoke the CPO manual and disciplinary action against the students.

“Despite repeated representations to your office regarding — JNUSU elections and revocation of the CPO manual and proctorial inquiries — there has been no written communication or response to the same,” the letter submitted to the VC read. The students body had written to the vice-chancellor on January 15 and to the dean of students on January 17. The students body said it will start a complete non-cooperation movement with the administration if the notification regarding the elections is not released by February 2. “Despite verbal assurances that the notification for JNUSU elections will be announced with the new academic calendar, the JNU administration has not released a single circular regarding holding of elections, the students body said in a statement threatening to stage an agitation if their demands are not met.” The elections in JNU have not been held in the last four years. The last JNUSU election was held in 2019.