RASTRIYA SAMACHAR SAMITI

All the students unions have agreed to hold their long overdue election. The proposed date for the election falls on March 12 next year.

In a discussion organised at Tribhuvan University - the oldest university in the country - here today, the leaders of 20 student unions agreed to hold the election on the stipulated time. The election of student unions in TU ought to be held biannually. However, the election has not been held on a regular basis since 2009.

The latest student union election was held on 28 March 2017. Among the 62 constituent campuses across the country, the election was held in only nine colleges inside Kathmandu valley, including Ratna Rajya Laxmi College and Public Administration College, among others, while election was held in only 17 colleges outside the valley.

Election was long overdue in 13 campuses inside the valley and 23 outside the valley.

TU has 62 constituent campuses and 1,040 affiliated campuses in different disciplines.

Director of the TU Student Welfare and Sports Directorate Pashupati Adhikari said that the election date would be decided very soon since all student union leaders agreed to hold long overdue election in today's discussion.

According to him, the meeting of the Students Welfare Council will be summoned soon and the proposed election date will be sent to TU Executive Council.

Sunita Baral, President of the All Nepal National Free Students Union, student wing of the CPN-UML, said since all the student unions had agreed to hold the election, they had urged TU to determine the election date at the earliest.

Similarly, Pancha Singh, President of the All Nepal National Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary), student wing of the CPN-Maoist Centre, informed that while TU had proposed March 12 for the election, their student union was in favour of holding election either on February 26 or March 28. 'As we have pitched our choice for the election date, the TU now has a choice to decide on the most appropriate date for the election,' said Singh.

The age limit for candidates to contest in student union election is 28 years and mixed electoral system is implemented in the election.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 27, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.