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| Lyngdoh: Colleges beware |
New Delhi, Jan. 23: James Michael Lyngdoh, the former chief election commissioner who sent politicians into a tizzy during his tenure, is on a new job.
The human resource development ministry has appointed Lyngdoh the chairperson of a committee that will draft a model code of conduct for student union elections in colleges and higher educational institutions in response to a Supreme Court order last month.
Expressing concern over the “unleashing of unrest” in colleges during elections, the apex court had ordered the Centre to institute a five-member committee to lay down modalities for conducting such elections.
The Supreme Court also wants to put a leash on the unbridled spending that marks some students’ union polls.
The terms of reference for the committee, which was instituted today, are framed along the lines of the Election Commission’s code of conduct.
The panel will look into criminalisation in students’ polls, financial transparency, expenditure and eligibility criteria of candidates. The committee will also set up a forum to address disputes on procedural fairness and violation of election norms. The committee will hold discussions in Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in the next two months.