GUWAHATI: The stage is set for the prestigious Gauhati University Post Graduate Students' Union (PGSU) polls for the session 2019-20. The polls are scheduled to be held on 24th September, Tuesday, and the counting of votes will take place on 25th September. The last date of nomination withdrawal was on 19th September.
Students of the regular full time P.G. 1st & 3rd semester, LLM 2nd semester and 7th & 9th semester Integrated Commerce students of university classes for the session 2019-20 are eligible for contesting as well as voting in the forthcoming election.
Candidates are campaigning in the campus in full swing as the campaign ends on 23rd September at 10 am, 24 hours before the day of election.
The university has representation from All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who will be fielding candidates for various posts.
Last year AASU backed candidates swept the PGSU elections capturing both the President and General Secretary posts.
Apart from the major posts i.e. President and General Secretary other posts in the upcoming election includes Vice-President, Assistant General Secretary, Literary Secretary, Music Secretary, Cultural Secretary, Debate and Symposia Secretary to name a few. Last year altogether 29 candidates had contested in the election and around 2500 - 2700 students cast their votes.
With the President’s post being in focus, three candidates are contesting for the post which includes Anurag Kalyan Borgohain, Sidhartha Pator and Shrestha Krishnan Dutta.
G Plus caught up with Shreshtha Krishnan Dutta, one of the presidential candidates in the upcoming elections who is a 3rd-semester student from the Sociology department of the university.
The Candidate's Perspective
According to Shrestha, the university needs immediate measures for women safety, cleanliness, transportation within the campus, public toilet, street lights to name a few.
Talking about structural changes he said, I love my University but I feel constructive criticism is very important. According to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) given by Ministry of Human Resource Development Gauhati University (GU) is ranked at number 42. I wonder that why even after 71 years of its establishment, GU is still lagging behind. We haven’t found the spot in the top 5 or at least top 10.
“On the basis of research, we lack public visibility and Institution Social Responsibility (ISR). I feel that instead of restricting our social works inside the campus, we can go beyond it and help people, which could include organising blood donation camps for locals, educating young children outside the campus and this in turn could help in gathering some public visibility. These are long term structural changes but we have to start somewhere,”said Shreshtha to G Plus.
Speaking about the challenges in the department, he said, “If I win, I want to introduce some new courses/departments in the university like Masters in Physical Education, Public Administration and Social Work to name a few. I am not sure if I will be able to do it in my limited period but we can definitely work towards the foundation of the project.”
He also spoke about his ideas on women safety, “In GU, 82% students are female; my major concern is their safety. I would make sure that there are sufficient working street lights and CCTV cameras in the campus. Apart from that, sanitary pad dispensershave to be installed in all the girls' hostels of the campus and the various departments.”
Shrestha also plans install a digital notice board in the centre of the campus and bring inE-Rickshaws in the campus to solve the transportation issue within if he wins. “I also want to make sure that the campus is clean and has sufficient amount of dustbins. The campus has no public toilet which is my next major concern,” he added.
Shreshtha also spoke about setting up a training centre for UPSC and APSC aspirants in the Pre Examination Training Centre at Gauhati University.
The results of the elections will be announced on September 25th.
