Students without Minimum 75% Attendance Cannot Contest Delhi University College Students' Union Elections: High Court Upholds Condition

The Delhi High Court has held that to contest in Delhi University College Students' Union Elections, a student is required to meet the criteria to have 75% attendance, and the same can't be ignored.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition seeking directions to quash the Election Notice whereby the nomination of the Petitioner was excluded from the final list of candidates for the Students’ Union Elections.

The Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna observed, "......it has been stated in categorical terms that the nomination of the various candidates has been rejected on the ground of not fulfilling the minimum 75% attendance criteria, as per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee.....Accordingly, it is evident that a student, who does not meet the criteria of having minimum 75% attendance, cannot be allowed to stand for elections."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Hemant Baisla, while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Mayank Yadav.

Facts of the Case

Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner is a 3rd Year B.A. (Programme) Student at Satyawati College, University of Delhi and the nomination of the Petitioner was rejected on the ground of short attendance.

It was submitted that the Petitioner duly attended the college and there was never any shortage of attendance on the part of the Petitioner. It was further submitted that there were repeated administrative lapses on behalf of the college by allotment of multiple roll numbers to the Petitioner, as a result of which, the Petitioner’s attendance was incorrectly recorded under different names, leading to an artificially low attendance record, despite her regular presence in the class.

It was averred that she migrated to the college and was allotted roll numbers thrice leading to discrepancies in the attendance.

Reasoning By Court

The Court ruled that in the present case, the attendance of the Petitioner is below the minimum 75% attendance criteria, and therefore, the College would be within its authority to reject the nomination of the Petitioner, or any other candidate.

It, however, allotted her a hearing before the Grievance Committee to show her proof of attendance.

"The records, as may be submitted by the petitioner before the Grievance Committee, shall be duly considered and the attendance of the petitioner shall be calculated again, in front of the petitioner, during the course of the hearing", the Court observed.

The Petition was accordingly dismissed.

Cause Title: Muskan vs. Satyawati College & Ors. (2025:DHC:8176)

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocate Hemant Baisla, Advocate Neha Yadav, Advocate Hemant Kr. Niranjan, Advocate Ankit Singh, Advocate Shivani, Advocate Shikha

Respondent- Advocate Mayank Yadav, Advocate Jitender Verma, Advocate Mohinder Rupal, Advocate Hardik Rupal, Advocate Aishwarya Malhotra

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