PU vote recount reconfirms NSUI win

CHANDIGARH: The National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Tuesday retained the post of secretary in Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) after a recounting of votes ended up with almost the same result as declared previously on September 6.
NSUI candidate Tegbir Singh was once again declared the winner by 10 votes against INSO candidate Gaurav Duhan, though vote count of both the candidates increased overall by three votes each.The counting process, conducted in a closed-door room at gymnasium hall with university authorities and two members of both NSUI and INSO, took eight hours.
“There were some fluctuations due to minute human errors and smudging of ink. Some votes were cancelled while some votes were added for both the candidates. Each vote was shown to the candidates and wherever there was an argument, a mutual understanding was made to reach to a conclusion. It was because of this effort that the counting process took long,” said Prof JK Goswamy, who was a part of six-member panel to recount votes. The recounting was done after Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) objected to the results declared by authorities on September 6. INSO alleged lack of transparency and discrepancies in counting, and demanded a recounting saying the difference of votes between their candidate and NSUI candidate was of just 10 votes.
Got nervous once: Tegbir of NSUI
INSO chairman Rajat Nain said they were satisfied with the recounting and new results declared by the university.
NSUI candidate and winner of the post, Tegbir Singh, said at one point during recounting, his winning margin got reduced to five votes, but picked up to 10 by the end. “I got nervous for once, but it all worked well in our favour,” he said.
The university authorities on Tuesday shut mediapersons out from the venue where the recounting of votes was conducted for the secretary’s post. A large number of security persons barricaded the gymnasium hall and did not allow media to enter the hall. The media has always been allowed to counting centres at PU in the previous elections to maintain transparency. The university authorities did not respond to questions on why media was not allowed, especially at a time when charges of lack of transparency were levelled against the university.
Celebrations erupt Though no announcement was made by university authorities, NSUI candidate Tegbir Singh and PUCSC vice-president Rahul Kumar who were present in the room during counting came out shouting in celebrations while INSO candidate Gaurav Duhan and party chairman Rajat Nain sneaked out disappointedly from the counting centre. The NSUI members waiting outside soon erupted in celebrations and danced to the beats of dholwala called by them. The party members distributed sweets and held Tegbir on their shoulder as they danced to their victory one more time.
With recounting done, the original results of PUCSC stand the same. Chetan Chaudhary of Student Organisation of India (SOI) has been elected as the president, and Rahul Kumar, Tegbir Singh and Manpreet Singh Mahal of the NSUI have been elected as vice-president, secretary and joint-secretary of the council, respectively.