IISc Election Controversy: Students allege bias by outgoing council

Students allege that the left-leaning outgoing Students’ Council is undermining the very idea of student democracy on campus

NEW DELHI | Updated: 03 March, 2023 8:09 pm IST
Indian Institute of Science

A group of students accused the authorities of one of the country’s premier science institutions, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), of taking an unfair approach in the student council election.

The group of students participating in the student council election alleges that the election commission – appointed by the outgoing Students’ Council – in its biased approach, is cancelling the elections after the polls have been done.

“It’s unbecoming of the premier science institution of our country to take such an undemocratic measure on the flimsy grounds of poll code violation for sending WhatsApp messages by another person (not the candidate), and that too is not substantiated to have any link with the candidate(s),” a student on condition of anonymity told The New Indian.

“At present, the left-leaning outgoing Students’ Council is undermining the very idea of student democracy on campus,” the student further stated.

The election of the student body saw 59.16 per cent of the 4958 voters exercise their franchise. The students voted to elect the chairman, general secretary, secretary of UG, secretary of academic affairs and secretary of amenities and hostel of the students’ council.

Yogesh Pratap Singh, who polled 1431 votes, was elected as the chairman. He defeated Nischal Karthik Mapakshi, who pocketed 891 votes. Shairik Sengupta came third with 445 votes.

Souptik Dey polled 1561 votes to win the general secretary post. He beat Jishnu Ghosh, who polled 1149 votes.

Dikshant Aria was elected as the secretary of UG with 263 votes. He beat Anurag Chittawar, who polled 167 votes.

Isha cornered 1367 votes to be elected as secretary of amenities and hostel. She beat R Poyoja who got 1285 votes.

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