NSUI’s president nominee lands in frying pan for pakoda protest

NEW DELHI: The election commission of Jawaharlal Nehru University received a recommendation on Friday from the university’s grievance redressal committee to

cancel

the

nomination

of the

NSUI candidate

for the

presidential post

in the forthcoming students’ union elections.

The university body said Vikas Yadav had been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000 in February and ordered to move hostels for selling pakodas on campus as a mark of protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that even pakoda-selling was a kind of employment. Yadav didn’t pay.

The university administration said the grievance committee received a complaint on Wednesday against Yadav and two other NSUI members for non-payment of fine. It was deliberated upon by the committee headed by the dean of students and it was recommended to the election commission to cancel Yadav’s candidature.

“Disciplinary action was initiated against Yadav. The matter was later taken to court, which granted reprieve but only for academic matters. GRC found that the candidature couldn’t be carried forward under the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, and recommended to the election body to cancel the candidature. The final decision will be taken by the commission,” said Umesh Kadam, dean of students, JNU.

Kadam also said he had sent a notice to Yadav to appear at his office at 12.30pm on Friday. But as the news of GRC’s negative recommendation spread, the NSUI cadre rose up in protest. The protesting students said Yadav wasn’t given any notice to appear at the Kadam’s office. TOI later learnt that the notice to appear at 12.30pm was sent by email to Yadav (TOI has a copy of it) at 12.17pm.

When questioned, Kadam claimed that his office had been trying to contact Yadav over phone through the day before sending an email to him, and the decision was taken after he didn’t show up at his office.

Sunny Mehta, NSUI’s campaign coordinator for JNUSU, said the candidature of two more NSUI counsellors had also been cancelled.

Sources in the election body later said they hadn’t taken a final call on the recommendation and were deliberating on it.