Patna University students do not seem very enthusiastic about the union elections, if the poor response to the nomination process is any indication.

Just three candidates had filed their nomination till Sunday, the second day of the nomination process. Sources quoted the university administration as saying they expected the nomination process to gain momentum on Monday, the last day for filing nominations.

One candidate has filed nomination papers for the post of president and two for the post of councillor from the faculty of social science. “Only three candidates have filed their nomination papers,” said Patna University dean of education and chief election officer (COE) Khagendra Kumar.

“We expect the number to go up on Monday. Around 400 nomination papers have been sold for different posts.” The election, scheduled for December 5, is for five central panel posts (president, vice-president, general secretary, secretary, and treasurer) and 24 councillor posts in ten colleges and four faculties.

“We are seeing fewer number of candidates in Pusu polls this time as candidates have been directed to submit mark sheets of the last exam,” Khagendra said. “This has been launched to check anomalies in the election process.”

Two major controversies had erupted after results were declared for the last Pusu election in February. Pusu president Divyanshu Bhardwaj’s candidature was challenged. It was alleged that he had submitted PU certificates but was not a regular PU student. Following students’ complaint, the varsity carried out a probe and on the recommendation of the probe committee report, Divyanshu’s election as Pusu president was cancelled.

But later Divyanshu approached Patna High Court, which reinstated his candidature as Pusu president. The second controversy was over Pusu vice president Yoshita Patwardhan’s election. Her election was later cancelled as she had hidden facts about her academic arrears.

Sources said that apart from the candidates having to submit the original certificate of the passing out year, the other reason behind poor response is because student associations are not getting candidates for different posts.

None of the major students associations has announced the name of their candidates. Sources said that as examinations are near, students are not much interested to contest elections. Sushil Kumar, state secretary of the AISF, said: “We’ve joined hands with AISA and Chhatra RJD and our united candidates will file nominations on Monday.”