JNUSU, varsity adminstration levels allegations against each other

The election committee of JNU students' union polls and the administration on Wednesday got into a war of words and levelled allegations against each other.

Jawaharlal Nehru University's Dean of Students Umesh Kadam alleged students gheraoed him.

While, the JNUSU election committee members claimed that when they went to submit their replies to the summon issued to them by Kadam accusing them of violating Lyngdoh Committee guidelines during the recently concluded polls, they were not allowed to enter the office.

Kadam had sent a notice to the members of the student-run election committee on Monday, seeking a reply by 10 am on Wednesday in the matter.

Kadam, also the chairman of Grievance Redressal Cell (GRC) claimed that the election committee members did not arrive at his office from 10 am to 2.30 pm.

"They only came around 5.30 pm, when we refused to take the submissions since it was closing time and they refused to leave from there," he said.

Many students started protesting and they sat next to the office gate and blocked it, he claimed.

"Even after the office was closed at 5.30, they kept harassing me and my staff. I was held hostage in the office for several hours and the students were shouting loudly outside the office," Kadam alleged.

He claimed that his blood pressure also shot up.

"I sat in my car but the students gheraoed it and later when I went and sat in a car provided by security personnel, they even gheraoed it, " he said.

Kadam said he started feeling uneasy and went to the health centre.

Sources said the Election Committee has a total of 54 members.Out of these, 28 members were given time to respond on Wednesday and the remaining 26 members till Thursday.

They were also allowed to submit theiranswers through a single letter and all 54 members could sign that letter. But of these, only 15 members were able to give their answers on Wednesday from 3 to 5.30 pm, sources said.

Kadam claimed that around 15-20 students had come to his office but when they were not allowed to enter, they called more students.

At the same time, the students alleged that when they went to submit their letters of explanation, they were not allowed to enter by the security personnel present in Kadam's office.

Kadam also said that since the elections are over, the election committee is dissolved now but the members have not yet handed over the keys of the place they had been alloted. He said some candidates who had contested elections were also there and they shouted slogans and used "bad language".

A student claimed the election committee was wrongly sent notices, some at 12 midnight.

Students claimed the administration was trying to intimidate the election committee.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls were held on September 6 and the counting commenced the next day. The polls recorded a turnout of 67.9 per cent, the highest in seven years. But the Delhi High Court had restricted the university from notifying the results.