PU polls-2017: Five-day deadline puts campaign fever at its peak
Making every vote count: From classrooms to hostels, student organisations are putting their best foot forward in the run up to student council elections; campaigning to end at 5pm on September 6; nominations to be filed on Sep 1.
With five more days to go, the campaigning for Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) elections is at its peak. All 21 students organisations on campus are aiming at covering over 70 departments and 17 hostels in this short span of time. They are alllowed to campaign till 5pm on September 6.

“Students are prepared with a list. Since organisations tell them that the SFS was involved in the stone-pelting incident during the fee hike, their first question to us is why we did that and brought a bad name to the varsity?”
Student leaders and teams are nowhere to be seen at the Student Centre as they are all are busy campaigning in classrooms during the day and then at hostels in the night. A team consisting of a department incharge with 20 to 30 members, dedicated to a particular task, start their day at around 8.30am when the classes begin.
They From requesting teachers to allow them to talk to students for 10 minutes to convincing them to vote for their party, the teams are doing everything in their power to make each vote count in their favour on the basis of their work and contribution towards student welfare.
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK
8.30 am to 1pm: Classroom campaigning
1pm to 3pm: UIET canteen or the Student Centre
3pm to 5pm: Sciences department
5pm to 7pm: Department of laws
8pm to 9.30pm: Girls’ hostels
9.30pm to Midnight: Boys’ hostels
The leaders, including fresh faces of student bodies, can be spotted answering questions putting their presentation skills to test. Students are also prepared with some tough questions regarding the university and their contribution to it.
A leader of the Students for Society (SFS) said, “No sooner than we enter the classrooms, the students start putting their questions forward. They are prepared with a list. Since other organisations tell them that the SFS was involved in the stone-pelting incident during the fee hike issue, their first question to us is why we did that and brought a bad name to the varsity?”
Leaders said once their day started at 8.30am, it ended at after midnight with their final stage of campaigning in the hostels.
Since the nominations are scheduled to be filed on September 1, the student bodies were even spotted making plans for alliances and finalising their presidential candidates and panels at the last moment.
Tips from leaders to campaigners
- Don’t speak only in Punjabi. Use a mix of Punjabi, English and Hindi to make the speech interesting. Cooperate with students
- Don’t use abusive or unparliamentarily language
- Don’t make eye contact with any student in class
- Dress decently
- Carry a sheet of paper and a pen to write down the feedback from students
- Be specific and agendas should be clear to you to make others understand
- Don’t argue with teachers while asking to talk to students
- If the team head does not know the answer to any question posed by students, pass it on subtly.