On 18th November, 2015, the students of EFLU Hyderabad who were scattered near and around the foreign languages building complex were on cloud nine, when the time for the final result of election polls slowly ticked by. Minutes later, when the Election Commission released the final word stating the triumphant victory of ASAD-E (Allied Students’ Union for Action and Democracy) in all panels, the atmosphere resounded with the sound of winning a long battle valiantly fought; the student community finally emerged the eventual victors. SAJD (Students Alliance for Justice and Democracy) proved to be a very healthy counterpart, challenging ASAD-E in every single post, putting in a couple of neck to neck fights and bagging arguable shares in the rest of the panels. Saahiti and Kumar Madhav, independent candidates, managed more than a hundred votes. Both panels merged in front of the Distance Education Building and, along with the rest of the candidates and students, raised slogans,”Long Live Students Unity! Lend us your voices, we are all but the same”.
The Union Elections conducted on 18th of November 2015 is a major landmark in the history of EFLU, with traces of struggle over the past 3-4 years accentuating it.
[envoke_twitter_link]The recent elections were a result of a chain of events[/envoke_twitter_link], that took a turn after the mass protest demanding the right to conduct elections rocked the campus. As many as 300 students took part in it, of which 12 students were targeted and thrown out of the campus, with the administration cancelling their hostel admissions indefinitely; eight of them were finally evicted from the hostel on 15th November.
The VC and the Admin are stern in their decision and do not seem willing revoke the order even at least for the time being. With the semester exams being right around the corner and the gates of the university closing behind them, these students (including girls who stay thousands of kilometres away from their homes) are left hopelessly out into the open. The main proposition, as of now, put forward by the newly electedn body is the reprimand of all orders pertaining to hostel admission cancellations.
Wednesday (18th November), saw a passionate EFLU student population crowding polling booths in the Foreign Languages Complex, exercising the hard-earned right to cast a vote. An overall polling percent of 70.4% was confirmed by the election commission. The following are the list of elected representatives and their designated posts: Tony Sebastian (President), Tania Kar (Vice-President), Ajay Mathew Jose (General Secretary), Anas Rahiman (Cultural Secretary), Noble Antony (Joint Secretary) and Ashish Krishna (Sports Secretary). A total of 10 councilors, corresponding respective language departments were also elected. The council of members will be sworn in as representatives by this week.
A full day protest was supervised by the panel in front of the Admin Block, the very next day after the elections, seeking justice for the denied. The authorities are still reluctant to talk, and the new body is continuously pestering them for equity. At the end of the day, the student community can heave a sigh of relief and say, we got a face, now -we’ll start getting answers.
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