HC stays directions on election boards, poll calendar in universities

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court Friday stayed key directions issued by a single bench relating to future student union elections in universities and colleges across the state. The order came while hearing an appeal filed by the Rajasthan govt against the single bench verdict.

A division bench of Justice Sudesh Bansal and Justice Manish Sharma stayed the operation of paragraphs 45 to 58 of the Dec 19, 2025, judgment passed by Justice Sameer Jain, which directed the state govt and universities to frame annual student union election calendars, constitute election boards, maintain transparency in election-related fee collections and provide grievance hearings to student representatives.

The division bench also issued notices to Jai Rao, the original petitioner before the single bench, who sought directions for the conduct of student union elections.

Appearing for the state, Advocate General Rajendra Prasad argued that the single judge travelled beyond the scope of the petitions by issuing broad prospective directions affecting election administration and public infrastructure usage. He contended that the petitions were confined to the issue of student union elections, but the judgment ventured into wider policy matters.

Prasad further argued that if broader public interest issues involving election infrastructure and academic institutions were to be examined, the matter ought to have been treated as a suo motu PIL and placed before the Chief Justice for assignment to an appropriate bench. He also submitted that the Election Commission was not a party to the original proceedings despite directions affecting election authorities being issued.

“We have also maintained that the petitions were confined to University of Rajasthan. Still, the single bench issued general orders for all the universities in the state, despite knowing that the rules and constitution of various universities are different,” Prasad told TOI.

The stayed portions of the judgment also observed that universities and colleges should, as far as practicable, not be used as polling stations, counting centres or storage facilities if such use disrupted academic activities under the National Education Policy framework.

Justice Sameer Jain, while disposing of a batch of petitions on Dec 19, 2025, declined to order immediate student union elections for the current academic session but issued a series of prospective guidelines for future elections and academic planning.