PUCSC polls: Norms go for a toss as parties pull out all stops
The South Campus, which had remained dormant till now, came alive with big rallies by the National Students Union of India, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti and Student Organisation of India, among others
After a slow weekend, the campus was abuzz with renewed energy on Monday as parties made last-ditch efforts to woo voters ahead of the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections. However, as campaigning nears end, student parties were seen flouting the code of conduct openly. Violations of many rules, especially defacement, were seen and traffic bottlenecks also continued along PU throughout most of the day.
The South Campus, which had remained dormant till now, came alive with big rallies by the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) and Student Organisation of India (SOI), among others.
The rules for using printed stickers were openly flouted and the ground between the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) canteen and the department was cluttered with brightly-coloured paper for different parties. During the campaigning, NSUI national general secretary Dilip Choudhary, who is also in-charge of NSUI’s PU campaign this year, spoke about the importance of the UIET department and how they had put last week’s events behind them and were now focused on the final leg of the campaigning.
Show-cause notices sent over stickers
All parties were throwing stickers here leaving a mess behind for cleaners. Earlier, the INLD Student Organisation (ISO) had thrown stickers on nomination day.
Speaking about what action has been taken, dean students’ welfare (DSW) Amit Chauhan said show-cause notices have been sent to the candidates of some parties, including NSUI, ABVP, PUSU and Mukul Chauhan, and Anurag Dalal, who are fighting as independent candidates. “The candidates have till Tuesday to send their replies. We will hold a meeting to review all cases of defacement and most likely impose a fine. The fine will be added to the final expenditure reports of the candidates,” he added.
Traffic problems compound on campus
Meanwhile, traffic bottlenecks continued throughout the day around the campus. It took upwards of fifteen minutes just to drive up the road and enter from Gate Number 3, which faces the South Campus. The traffic police have sealed the gap between the South Campus and the North Campus, making anyone who wants to go between the two campuses travel an extra long route and further choke the traffic.
Even exiting the campus has become hard because of the long traffic jams that were seen at the PU gates. At Gate Number 2, because of the long line of traffic coming from the Sector-15 side, vehicles weren’t able to exit the gate as the cars were lined up at the exit, and traffic lights were going up to 110 seconds here further leading to confusion.
Speaking about this, PU chief of university security (CUS) Vikram Singh said, “We have been coordinating with the traffic teams to aid the people. Around five nakas were also put up on roads outside PU. Challans were issued for various offences like dangerous driving.” Punjab number vehicles get the most challans, as per the security officials.
Bats, hockey sticks recovered at PU gates
Numerous baseball bats, hockey sticks and other such weapons were recovered at the gates. They were later sent to the police chowki inside the campus. Singh confirmed that between 50-100 weapons have been recovered. The people who are stopped with weapons are then handed over to the Chandigarh Police.
Later in the evening, foot marches were carried out by most of the major parties throughout the hostels on the campus. Parties have also started setting up tents on the road ahead of Gate Number 1 going towards the Students Centre side. The tents are usually used by parties to store material for canvassing but not all parties have opted for them, citing that Tuesday will be the last day left for campaigning.
All campaigning ends 36 hours before the polling starts. The polling will be held on Thursday.