Jamia Polls Demand: Revoke Notices, Restore Student Union

Hyderabad, October 26: Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leader Malik Motasim Khan has voiced strong support for students at Jamia Millia Islamia who are demanding students' union elections, calling for the polls to be held without further delay.

Khan made the remarks in Hyderabad, urging the university to approve the students' union constitution within 15 days. He said elections should follow immediately after that. He also demanded that the show-cause notices and punitive action taken by the university administration be withdrawn.

Jamia Millia Islamia, he said, is once again in the public eye. Khan pointed out that the university has not held students' union elections for almost 20 years. By contrast, he said, Delhi University and JNU, both in Delhi, conduct regular students' union elections.

Khan also referred to Aligarh Muslim University, where students' union elections were postponed for nearly eight years. He said the process of restoring them began only after large protests. Asking what the students at Jamia have done wrong, he questioned why elections are not being held there.

He further alleged that police assistance was sought to end the students' hunger strike. According to him, some opposition MPs who wanted to stand with the students were detained.

In response, the university administration has announced that students' union elections will be conducted 15 days after the Jamia Students' Union constitution is approved. All suspensions and show-cause notices issued to students during the agitation have been cancelled. The administration has also decided to form a committee to examine the actions taken by security personnel during the protests.

These developments came after a 15-day protest by students, who have been seeking the restoration of an elected students' union. The university administration had dissolved the union in 2006.