After 37 years, Karnataka allows student union elections

THE Karnataka Cabinet on Wednesday cleared recommendations of a sub-committee to lift a 37-year-old ban on college elections, allowing it to be held without political affiliations. Speaking to reporters, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said each student union will have one president, two vice-presidents, one general secretary, two joint secretaries and a six-member executive committee.

The union will reserve positions for women: one vice-president, one joint secretary, and two positions in the executive committee. However, the government decided not to provide caste-based reservation. The minister said that the college management must conduct student body elections if the students favour them.

The elections can be cancelled if students prefer not to hold polls. Those contesting the student union polls cannot campaign under the banner of any student organisations affiliated with political parties. “Candidates who are members of student organisations can contest as long as they do not do it under the banners of student political groups,” he said.

The proposal to revive student body elections was floated in the Budget speech earlier this year. A Cabinet sub-committee was formed to deliberate on the issue, which recently decided to allow campus elections in all degree and PU colleges in the first phase.

The government had banned student body polls in 1989 in response to a series of violent incidents and clashes on campuses.