PU goes to polls amid burning of effigies

On the eve of

Panjab University Campus Students Council

(

PUCSC

) elections, the campus wore a somber mood on Wednesday. From unifying of all political parties against ABVP protesting violation of code of conduct by offering dinner to students on Tuesday night, to Chandigarh police breaking camps pitched during canvassing, to the litter of paper left in the wake of electioneering despite tall claims by parties to contest paperless election.
To protest the dinner hosted by ABVP on Tuesday, student organizations came together in front of the VC office, demanding cancellation of the party’s nomination. The students burnt an effigy of ABVP, RSS and the VC in protest. Parties NSUI,

SOI

, INSO,

HIMSU

, SFS and all of the others, united as one to raise the matter. Said Dheeraj Thakur, President HIMSU, "We just wonder how come even after the Code of Conduct, ABVP managed to get the hall for themselves and violated rules. We have demanded action from the VC's office to provide some sort of punishment, to show that there is no bias of the authorities in the elections."
Aman Kajal, leader INSO said, "We want students to be motivated and to see that parties like ABVP do not hold any right to fight the elections after what they did. The VC should come out openly against ABVP, so that other students do not waste time fighting for the right cause.” In-charge of girls’ wing of NSUI, Pahul Kaur added, "VC should take strict action and ban the party for five years, to serves as a lesson to all. If they can ban a NSUI candidate, then ABVP candidates shouldn't be treated any differently."
Wednesday was also a sight of litter of stickers and posters, like every year. Claims of parties like NSUI and PUSU, who claimed to run a paperless campaign, fell flat as even their stickers were strewn all across, which was being cleaned late in the afternoon in front of the Principal P.L Anand auditorium. Students too seemed upset with the amount of mess that student politicking had left behind.
A concerned student Satvik Bhatia, said, "Please click the pictures of the mess and spread it as much as possible. Every year we are fed up of this thing, but nothing happens."
City police also started their drive to wind down the campaigning and clear the decks for election day. They were seen taking off the tents of every student party, in view of the security reasons ahead of the elections. The cops had gathered their acts on Tuesday night itself, after the code of conduct was clamped.

-Faguni Verma