Haryana CM Lacks Will to Conduct Students’ Elections, Say Student Activists after Third Announcement

After a 22-year-long ban by Bansi Lal government in 1996, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday announced that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will conduct student union elections across the state in last week of September or early in October. Khattar, in a video conference, told the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Superintendent of Police (SP) to make proper arrangements to conduct elections without violence and hooliganism. Conducting students' union elections was one of the poll promises of the BJP. 

Many observers and students activists suggest that the new announcement does not appears to be in sync with the situation on ground. Talking to Newsclick, Sumit Singh, Secretary, Students Federation of India (SFI), Haryana unit, said that the CM and the Education Minister Ram Vilas Sharma have come up with similar announcements earlier too, but have failed in conducting elections. They must issue the notification to prove their willingness. 

This announcement was made before in 2016, and then again in February 2018.

Singh said, "We have found that the government has not been serious about conducting the student body elections. They formed a four-member committee headed by Guru Jambeshwar University Vice Chancellor Tankeshwar Kumar to prepare a report to recommend the arrangements for the elections. While the committee has submitted the report, the government has not disclosed it yet." 

He added, "Similarly, the academic session has begun across the colleges in the state. The announcement does not specify the budget or the schedule for elections. The academic calendar does not have any period earmarked for the elections. The state government is incapable of conducting elections at such a huge level, as they do not have the good enough infrastructure to carry out such an exercise."

Singh emphasised that all students’ bodies have been demanding direct elections whereas the government is willing to opt for indirect elections to appoint its own sympathisers in democratic bodies. In direct elections method, students vote directly to choose the candidates, but indirect elections involve nomination of candidates by college authorities. 

He added, "While the indirect elections do not only defy the democratic spirit of polls, it also ensures no political activity takes place at the campus. We have seen the toppers of departments getting appointed as the members of Executive Council in Maharshi Dayanand University. If common students want to meet these representatives, they have no idea how to meet them. Since ABVP is not active on the campuses, it will give free hand to authorities to appoint students affiliated with RSS."

The restoration of student body elections in Haryana comes at a time when Punjab and Maharashtra have also decided to lift the ban on polls after 34 years and 24 years respectively. The student union elections were banned in Punjab after militancy hit the state in 1984. 

The ban and restoration of student union elections have also been used as political tool to further political parties’ interests on the campuses. The trend was validated by the fact that West Bengal government led by Trinamool Congress passed The West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Composition, Functions and Procedure for Elections to Students’ Council) Rules 2017 which replaced the students’ unions with students’ councils, and snatched their political and financial powers.