JNU poll panel cancels Yogi's nomination

New Delhi : The nomination of an independent candidate, who had filed his papers for the election to the post of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president, was cancelled on Friday after it was found that a proctorial inquiry was carried out against him, leaving five nominees in the fray.

Raghavendra Mishra, known as the "Yogi of JNU", alleged a conspiracy of "certain people", who did not want him to contest the election. The Proctorial Enquiry Committee of the university had slapped Rs-10,000 fine on Mishra on August 7 for allegedly being involved in a brawl with a student, sources said.

The Grievance Redressal Cell of the university directed the Election Committee on Thursday to cancel Mishra's candidature. "This is to certify that the candidature of Raghavendra Mishra for the post of president, JNUSU 2019-20 has been cancelled by the Election Committee as per a direction received from the Grievance Redressal Cell," Shashank Patel, the chairman of the Election Committee, said on Friday.

Mishra, however, alleged that it was a conspiracy against him. "Many of the candidates, who are in the fray, have faced proctorial inquiries. I am a 50 per cent visually-impaired candidate and I want to ask, why am I being targeted? I had filed my nomination on August 27 and my name was there in the final list of candidates on August 28. Why was my nomination not cancelled then?" he asked.

Mishra claimed that he was not blamed for the incident for which he was fined. "I was hit by a student and I had submitted a complaint to the university's Equal Opportunity Cell, which did not conduct an inquiry. However, the other student's complaint was looked into by the administration and I was fined," he said.