New Delhi, March 12 In the wake of a referendum that strongly opposed the vice chancellor, a section of Jawaharlal Nehru University faculty members on Thursday claimed that a vast majority of the students did not vote.
A referendum recently conducted by the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) showed that 2,181 out of 2,409 students who voted wanted the vice chancellor to resign.
A few students and faculty members have now come forward stating that "a vast majority of students have actually not voted in the referendum".
According to the JNUSU, "More than 90 per cent of the students who had voted in the referendum wanted the VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit to resign, in light of the casteist remarks made by her."
On Thursday, however, some students and faculty members claimed that there were 9,043 eligible voters, implying that an inordinate number of people refrained from taking part in the exercise.
"Surprisingly, however, according to 'data' released by JNUSU, 2,409 students cast their votes, of whom 2,181 opposed the continuation of the vice chancellor… The voting participation was roughly 27 per cent. This reveals that more than 70 per cent of students outrightly rejected JNUSU's call for the so-called referendum," said Christhu Doss, a faculty member from the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences.
Doss added that the referendum was conducted without any independent oversight or participation threshold.
Responding to the allegations, JNUSU president Aditi Mishra told
