Student organisations cutting across party lines welcomed the move and pressed for elections to be held within the current academic year without delay, an official statement said. Representatives from student wings of the Congress, BJP, JD(S) and Left parties backed the proposal, irrespective of their parent parties’ positions.
The consultations follow the chief minister’s announcement in his March 6 budget speech that student union elections would be conducted in colleges and universities to “foster leadership, responsibility and democratic values”.
A day-long meeting of student leaders, chaired by Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil and Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar at the State Higher Education Council auditorium in Bengaluru, sought to build consensus on the contours of the exercise. Both ministers assured participants they would recommend early framing of rules and guidelines to the chief minister.
Leaders from Left-affiliated organisations — including representatives of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) and All India Students Organisation (AISO) — called for structured representation in elected bodies, including reservation of seats for women.
Aditya N Raj of Vidyarthi JD(S) sought 70% reservation for Kannada-speaking students.
Representatives of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), including Gopi Rangaswamy, urged the government to prescribe eligibility criteria such as a minimum attendance threshold of 60% and disqualification of candidates with pending FIRs or academic backlogs.The proposal drew objections from Kirthi Ganesh of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Vidyarthi JD(S) members, who argued that FIRs are often linked to participation in pro-Kannada protests and should not be grounds for disqualification. Attendance-based restrictions, they said, would also unfairly limit participation.
A student from Bangalore Medical College raised broader concerns on the scope of student bodies, urging the government to clearly define their powers and responsibilities. Elected unions, the student said, should go beyond organising campus events and be given substantive roles, including participation in university syndicate meetings.
Ministers Patil and Sudhakar indicated that the government would broadly follow the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee report, with modifications to reflect current requirements. The committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh, had submitted its recommendations two decades ago following a Supreme Court directive on student elections.
