india

Updated: Aug 27, 2019 20:38 IST

The limit of expenditure in the students’ union election at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been raised.

With the implementation of the new Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union-AMUSU (Conduct of Election) Amended Regulations, 2019, candidates contesting for the posts of office-bearers (president, vice-president and honorary secretary) can spend Rs 20,000 for their election campaign while students contesting for cabinet membership can incur expenses up to Rs 10,000, informed the press statement issued by AMU PRO on Tuesday.

The expenditure incurred by candidates contesting for both office- bearer and cabinet posts was restricted to Rs 5,000 in the AMU Students’ Union (Conduct of Election)-(Amendment) Regulations, 2012.

As new measures incorporated by the executive council (EC) of the AMU come into effect, election candidates pursuing B Ed, B Lib and B PEd courses will fall into the same age category as the post-graduate students. They should not be more than 25 years of age.

According to new rules, medicine and Unani medicine students enrolled in MD, MS and MDS courses are legitimate to contest the elections till the age of 27 years.

The recommendations also exempt student candidates from disqualification on the basis of punishments they received from principals during school years. However, students with criminal records and backgrounds remain barred from filing nominations as election candidates.

These amendments were recommended by a committee headed by M Shakeel Ahmad Samdani (department of law) as the chairman. The panel comprised M Abdus Salam (department of economics), M Wasim Ali (department of law), Naseem Ahmad Khan (department of chemical engineering) and Faisal M R K Sherwani (university games committee).

All other notable features of AMU Students’ Union (Conduct of Election)-(Amendment) Regulations, 2012 continue to be implemented in the new AMUSU (Conduct of Election) Amended Regulations, 2019.

Candidates can only criticise opponents on work, programmes, past records and policies and refrain from activities leading to hatred and tensions between different castes and communities; students contesting elections have to avoid any form of bribing, intimidating or impersonation of voters and unverified allegations and distortions related to other candidates; there will be no representation of political parties and non-students are not allowed to take part in AMUSU and WCSU election process in any manner.

Students contesting elections are only allowed to use handmade posters notified by the chief election officer for their campaign.

The entire election process, from filing nomination papers to declaration of results, shall not exceed 10 days.

Bonafide students of the university without academic arrears and with 75% classroom attendance, except students of the AMU schools up to the senior secondary level, are entitled to vote for AMUSU and WCSU elections. Students pursuing distance/proximate education courses are not eligible to contest.