Jadavpur University (JU) has confirmed through an official Right to Information (RTI) reply that no elected students' union body is currently functional in any of its three faculty wings — a situation that has persisted since February 2021. The disclosure, made in response to an RTI application filed by a member of the National Students' Front, has renewed scrutiny over the prolonged absence of democratic student representation at one of West Bengal's most prominent universities.

What the RTI Response Revealed

Bappa Mallick, Senior Director of Youth Welfare and Public Information Officer at JU, confirmed in the written reply that no elected students' body exists in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union (FETSU), the Science Faculty Students' Union (SFSU), or the Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU). Mallick further noted that no elected office-bearer is currently functioning under any of these three unions.

According to the RTI response, the last students' elections held at JU were conducted in February 2020. The statutory tenures of the office-bearers elected then expired in February 2021, leaving the university without any legitimate student representative body for over four years.

A History of Unfulfilled Assurances

The lapse in student elections did not go uncontested. During the tenure of the previous Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, JU students repeatedly demanded that elections be conducted. Despite assurances from the then State Education Department and the TMC administration, the elections were never held.

Notably, this pattern of delayed student elections is not unique to JU — several state universities across West Bengal saw similar lapses during the same period, critics argue. The failure to hold elections has long been a flashpoint between student groups and university administrations in the state.

Fresh Calls Under New Government

Following the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government's assumption of power in West Bengal, JU students have once again raised demands for the earliest possible conduct of students' body elections. The change in state government has added a political dimension to what is, at its core, a question of institutional governance.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, speaking at a Raksha Bandhan programme held at JU recently, remarked that both the Communists and the Trinamool Congress had, over the years, fostered what he described as an 'anti-national mindset' within the university, which he said was meant to be a centre of excellence.

Campus Violence Adds Urgency

The RTI disclosure comes against the backdrop of two rounds of clashes on the JU campus in recent weeks between activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s student wing, the Students' Federation of India (SFI), and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). A number of student activists from both sides were reportedly injured in the clashes.

Many observers argue that the absence of a legitimate, elected student body has created a governance vacuum on campus, making it easier for factional tensions to escalate without a structured representative mechanism to mediate. The elections question is now likely to remain at the centre of campus politics at JU in the weeks ahead.