Patna: The Patna University Students' Union (Pusu) will be led by its elected general secretary Sudhanshu Kumar Jha after the university administration cancelled union president Divyanshu Bhardwaj and vice-president Yoshita Patwardhan's elections for furnishing wrong affidavits and declarations while filing nomination papers.

Patna Science College student and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member Sudanshu won the Pusu general secretary's post defeating Independent candidate Manish Yadav. "As per statute, in the absence of the president and vice-president, the general secretary, who too is a duly elected member, will look after work of the president and vice-president," Patna University registrar Rabindra Kumar said.

On Tuesday, vice-chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh had cancelled Divyanshu and Yoshita's elections because of some irregularities. Divyanshu had taken admission into Himalayan University in Itanagar during the same academic session (2014-17) when he was a student of BN College in violation of UGC's directives. Patwardhan, a student of Magadh Mahila College, had failed her examination in 2017 but had hidden the fact in her nomination papers.

The vice-chancellor took the decision on the basis of a report by a three-member panel led by Patna University vice-chancellor Dolly Sinha.

But the decision to assign the president and vice-president's job to the general secretary has not gone down well with student leaders. They have demanded that the varsity administration cancel the entire election process, or, on the basis of second preference votes, make Gautam Anand president. Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad (JACP) candidate and Patna Law College student Gautam had stood second in the polls securing 100 votes less than Divyanshu, who had polled 1,850 votes.

"Since I secured second position in the election, the post of president should come to me," Gautam said. On Thursday, he submitted an application in this regard to vice-chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh, dean, students' welfare, N.K. Jha, registrar Rabindra Kumar and proctor G.K. Pillai.

"If the university administration doesn't entertain my plea, I will approach Patna High Court and even Raj Bhavan for justice," Anand said.

Confusion over the election of Pusu president and vice-president has run for around a month. The university admini stration didn't even hand over winning certificates to the elected members. With the confusion getting cleared on Tuesday, the university administration on Wednesday started the process of distributing certificates to winning candidates. The winning Pusu central panel members and executive members on Wednesday received certificates from the dean, student's welfare office.