JNUSU poll: Counting of votes suspended as ABVP protests, election authorities allege violence

Counting of votes for the JNU students union (JNUSU) polls was suspended Saturday by election authorities citing "forcible entry" and "attempts to snatch away ballot boxes" at a counting venue, after the ABVP staged protests claiming it was not informed about the start of the process.

The deadlock at the Jawaharlal Nehru University persisted even after 12 hours, with the the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) which is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing the election authorities of bias towards the Left outfits and threatening to move court.

The Left outfits alleged that ABVP activists were involved in the violence but the saffron outfit denied it.

The counting was suspended early morning after ABVP members protested alleging they were not informed about the process. The Election Committee issued a statement saying it had made announcement for counting agents to come and was following the rules.

"The counting process, which began on September 14 at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcible entry into the counting venue and attempts to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres," according to the JNU Election Committee.

It said, "A malicious lie is being spread on social media and among students that the Election Committee had not made three announcements and went forth with the entry of the counting agents for post of Central Panel for combined schools and Special Centres."
The Left bloc claimed that "around 4:00am, ABVP broke the glasses of the School of International Studies building. EC stopped the counting indefinitely."