New Delhi: The Jamia Millia Islamia administration on Thursday announced a firm timeline to restore its students’ union, ending a two-week protest that included hunger strikes and bringing elected student representation back to the university after two decades. The Registrar’s Office order states that the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU) constitution will be approved and implemented by May 15, 2027, with elections to follow within about six weeks of the start of the new academic session, expected around July 16, 2027 — effectively placing polling around mid-August 2027. Students celebrated the announcement as a “victory for our rights”, with the absence of specific dates having been the sticking point in an earlier settlement attempt.
The announcement, made on the university’s 106th Foundation Day, also confirmed that classes and exams will shift back to campus from November 8, after being restricted to online mode during the agitation. Registrar Mahtab Alam Rizvi said the administration accepted three written demands from students: finalising the union constitution by May 15, holding elections within six weeks of the new academic session in line with the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, and revoking all disciplinary actions taken during the protest period.
Under the new order, the university will withdraw all show-cause notices and disciplinary proceedings initiated against students involved in the protest. Orders of expulsion and suspension, along with restrictions on campus entry, will also be revoked. Ebin Basil, who was on hunger strike for 18 days, said, “This is a great victory for the students; it will be written in golden letters in Jamia’s history.” Rehan Mewati, on hunger strike for 15 days, told news agency ANI, “The truth has triumphed.”
The breakthrough came after an earlier attempt failed. An October 26 order had said elections would be held “after 15 days from the date of approval of the constitution of the students’ union”, which hunger-striking students rejected as open-ended. They had demanded the constitution be drafted and approved by December 20, with polls within 15 days thereafter. That earlier order also came with conditions, requiring students to apologise at a press conference for defamatory statements or social media posts against the administration and to take down such content immediately. The protesters refused, insisting no student should have to apologise for peaceful protest, and that order had not addressed rustication orders or campus bans, which the new order now covers.
JMISU was dissolved in 2006 after what the administration described as “a series of violent incidents, the last being the attack on the Vice Chancellor”. From 2012, the university cited a pending petition in the Delhi High Court as the reason elections could not be held, a logic students had disputed. The Jamia agitation followed a similar protest at Aligarh Muslim University, where the administration agreed to restore union elections after a 19-day hunger strike and scheduled polls for November 5. Earlier, on October 23, the committee drafting the union constitution had said an immediate election announcement would be premature since the union had no constitution or electoral mechanism in place.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/jamia-millia-islamia-sets-dates-for-restoring-students-union-appeals-for-end-to-protest-12255667#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-10-30 01:26:00
