Hyderabad: The recounting for the University of Hyderabad (UoH) Students’ Union(SU) presidential election was called off by the Election Commission (EC) of the university on Saturday, November 2.
The decision was taken owing to the lack of cooperation of counting agents of independent candidate former ABVP-HCU general secretary, Akash Bhati.
The EC, acknowledging the situation, decided to go forward with the original result, according to which A Umesh Ambedkar of the ASA-BSF-DSU-SFI alliance will assume charge as the president of UoH-SU 2024-25.
On Saturday, the recounting was further delayed by the counting agents of Akash Bhati, as they refused to put their signatures on counting sheets mandated by the Election Commission. Subsequently, a meeting was called by the EC with the representatives of all presidential candidates. The commission, having failed to carry on with the recounting announced the previously withheld results.
Towards the end of the previous month, the result of the 2024-2025 UoH-SU presidential election was kept on hold by the election commission.
The arbitrary nature of the declaration raised concerns among several student organisations and university students.
The circular came on Wednesday, October 30, announcing the recounting was also met with strong opposition. The recounting process, originally scheduled for Friday, November 1 was questioned by various student organisations stating statutory violations. Later, the counting was postponed to Saturday, November 2 as the protesters agreed with the EC to go ahead, considering the upcoming Academic Council (AC) meeting.
Further delay caused by the counting agents led the election commission to make a decision prevailing the original result.
The result of the 2024-25 UoH-SU election was announced on Sunday, October 25. A Umesh Ambedkar of the ASA-BSF-DSU-SFI coalition emerged victorious in the presidential election by a margin of 18 votes. Umesh Ambedkar collected 1313 votes, whereas his closest opponent and former general secretary of ABVP-HCU Akash Bhati, who contested as an independent collected 1295 votes.
Other office-bearers of UoH student union 2024-25:
Akash Kumar – Vice President
Nihad Sulaiman – General Secretary
Triveni – Joint Secretary
KV Krishnamurthy – Cultural Secretary
Mangpi – Sports Secretary
The recent election followed the abrupt dissolution of the previous students’ union, which was communicated through a circular issued by the Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) on October 15.
Notably, the election was declared without convening a University General Body Meeting (UGBM), raising questions about the decision-making process leading up to this electoral cycle. It was widely condemned by several student organisations on campus.
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