Tense calm looms over Student’s Centre, Panjab University, Chandigarh
While party stickers remained missing, NSUI members were seen wearing blue wristbands at Student’s Centre, PU, Chandigarh, to show their support for the party
As campaigning for the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) drew to a close on Tuesday, the Student’s Centre was eerily calm despite the air of anticipation. People, most of them members of student parties, were relaxed as they discussed politics in the lead up to polling.
Members were seen cutting across party lines as they discussed rumours. While party stickers remained missing, NSUI members were seen wearing blue wristbands to show their support for the party.
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) meanwhile, courted further controversy on Wednesday after many PU students received calls from ABVP candidates, including president Arpita Malik, and joint secretary Jasvinder Rana with an automated message playing to vote for them. This move was criticised by Manika of PSU Lalkaar who posted another video questioning how ABVP was able to obtain the phone numbers of all the students.
While officials confirmed that parties are allowed to call students on the last day before the polling, it is the first time that a party is using such automated calls to reach out to students. Chandigarh CYSS incharge Divyansh Thakur said, “Automated calls are more useful for large scale elections where we have to speak to thousands of people. PU elections are at a scale where individual calls to students yield better results. We were also doing this.”
Candidates fined for defacement
Dean Student Welfare fined five candidates ₹500 each for throwing stickers on the nomination day and Monday while campaigning outside UIET, after the show cause notice got no response.
The amount will be added to the candidate expenditure report which is prepared after the elections. Candidates have a ₹5,000 limit for campaign spending.