Nearly two years after Panjab University’s previous senate completed its tenure, the university on Sunday completed the electoral process for constituting a new house with the election of six faculty representatives, setting the stage for the next round of elections to the powerful syndicate.
Among those elected are Prof Jaskaran Singh Waraich (arts), Prof Sarabjit Singh (languages), Prof Navdeep Goyal (science), Dr Deepak Kumar Gupta (medical sciences), Prof Virender Kumar Negi (law), and Prof Rajat Sandhir (combined faculties).
The faculty elections marked the final phase of the senate polls, which began on September 7 with the election of representatives from the principals’ and staff constituencies of technical and professional colleges. This was followed by polling on September 14 for professors, associate professors, and assistant professors of the university teaching departments.
On September 20, polling was held for the registered graduates’ constituency and the heads and teachers of affiliated arts colleges, with counting in the graduates’ constituency continuing for five days under the single transferable vote system before all 15 winners were declared. Sunday’s faculty elections brought the entire electoral process to a close.
The elections were held after a prolonged gap following the expiry of the previous 91-member senate’s term on October 31, 2024. The delay had triggered protests by students, teachers, and alumni.
The senate is the university’s highest statutory authority and is responsible for framing major academic and administrative policies, approving statutes, ordinances and regulations, considering the annual budget, and exercising overall supervision over the affairs of the university.
The new senate will comprise a mix of experienced members and several first-timers elected from various constituencies.
Now, the university is expected to formally notify the constitution of the new senate after completing the process of including ex officio and nominated members. The senate will then hold its first meeting and elect members to the syndicate, the university’s executive body that takes key decisions on appointments, finance, administration, and the implementation of senate resolutions.