Protesting Eflu students demand immediate polls

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HYDERABAD: Students of English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu) on Sunday staged a protest on the campus following the decision of university authorities to postpone student body elections. The protesting students said that university administration should not succumb to pressures from undemocratic parties which are opposing gender and caste reservation in student's union.

The administration on November 2 had postponed the elections as some of the parties had opposed the move to reserve two seats for women candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC communities and general category. Student outfits opposing reservations had stated that reservation of posts will take away healthy competition between candidates. The notification brought out by the administration on November 2 after negotiations with a wide section of students had stated that president post will be reserved for SC/ST/OBC woman participant and sports secretary will be reserved for any woman participant irrespective of which category she belongs to. This provision was made with a long term view that the reservations will rotate across different seats in the students' council on an annual basis. "The historic decision now hangs in a precarious balance with the indefinite postponement of the elections. This revolutionary achievement for the sake of democracy and inclusion stands to be lost," said a statement of the Committee for Gender and Caste Equality in the Students' Council Elections, 2012-13, which was set up to lobby for reservation in student union body.

The protesting students demanded that the process for conducting student council elections, 2012-13 should be reinitiated. "The president post, 2012-13 should be reserved for an SC/ST/OBC woman candidate and the sports secretary post should be reserved for women, irrespective of which category they belong to," a press statement said.

- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/