Girls draw a blank in AMU students union poll
By IANSThursday, January 20, 2011
ALIGARH - None of the girls won when they contested for the top posts in the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union for the first time, despite women students comprising nearly half the electorate.
Asma Jawed, a research scholar in the Department of Hindi, contested for the post of president and Somya Pundhir, first-year BA (Hons) History student, for vice-president while Naheed Mustafa, a final year student of BA-LLB, was running for the post of honorary secretary.
They all lost to Abu Affan Farooquee (BA-LLB) who was elected president, Syed Umer Ahmad Qadri (BA) vice president, and Aamir Qutub (B.Tech) the honorary secretary, according to results announced early Friday. None of the female contestants for student representatives in the university court won either.
Of over 18,000 registered student voters in the elections held Thursday, 7,500 were girls.
“Since none of the girls has made it to the union, the university management should coopt some girls so that the huge female population is represented,” said one of the female candidates who lost the election.
A girl student was, however, elected member of the ten-member cabinet of the union.
The students union elections, held as per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee, come almost four years after the union was dissolved following violence in the university.
A group of students staged a sit-in outside the vice-chancellor’s residence from October and only called it off in December after the university administration agreed to hold the elections.
