National
Student union polls deferred by 4 days
A day after top leaders of the major political parties agreed to hold the Free Student Union election on the stipulated time, the Tribhuvan University, at the request of various student unions, postponed the poll date by four days.A day after top leaders of the major political parties agreed to hold the Free Student Union election on the stipulated time, the Tribhuvan University, at the request of various student unions, postponed the poll date by four days.
The meeting of the TU executive committee, which was attended by the representatives of student unions affiliated to different parties, rescheduled the poll date for March 1. Earlier, the election of the student council was scheduled for February 25.
The student unions agreed for the deferral as a section of the Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Student Union and the All Nepal National Independent Student Union (Revolutionary), affiliated to the Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist, have padlocked several colleges putting forth a number of demands. While some leaders of the NSU have been demanding lifting the 28-year age bar for candidates, the Maoist student wing had been demanding postponement citing the party’s ongoing general convention.
According to Registrar Dilli Uprety, the TU authority agreed to the postponement as more unions would be participating if the polls were held a few days later. In a meeting of the major parties on Wednesday, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba had proposed postponement.
“Though the prime minister had directed student unions to conduct the elections on February 25, we wanted to have participation of all the unions in the much awaited polls,” said RC Lamichhane, spokesperson for the All Nepal National Free Student Union.
Chiefs of the several TU constituent colleges in Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday briefed the university administration that it was difficult to hold the polls amid the protests of some unions. A group of students demanding postponement of the polls had set ablaze the vehicle belonging to TU Rector Sudha Tripathi on Sunday.
The biennial election has not been held for eight years due to differences among the unions mainly over the election modality. While some unions were for proportional representation, others advocated the first-past-the-post electoral system.