Aligarh Muslim University has announced the schedule for the AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) election, the first since 2018, with polling on Thursday, November 5. The schedule was issued on October 9 by the Chief Election Officer, Prof. Javaid Talib of the Department of Law, and came after nearly three weeks of protests and a hunger strike by a student demanding the union’s restoration.
On the same day, the university appointed Prof. Mohd. Nafees Ahmad Ansari of the Department of Political Science as Proctor for two years or until further orders, replacing Prof. Mohammad Naved Khan with immediate effect. The Registrar’s office issued the memo on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor.
The AMU students’ union election schedule
Deans will display the voters’ lists on October 26, corrections can be filed by 2 pm on October 27, and the final lists will be notified at 4 pm that day. Nomination papers can be filed on October 29 between 10 am and 1 pm, with scrutiny from 4 pm. Candidates can withdraw on October 30 between 10 am and 1 pm, and the list of valid candidates will be displayed at 4 pm. Serial numbers will be allotted on October 31, and the final list will be circulated at 4 pm.
Chair candidates will give their final speeches from the Union Hall Terrace on November 3 from 2 pm. Polling will take place at the respective faculties on November 5 from 9 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break from 1 to 2 pm. Counting will begin at 7 pm, with the venue to be notified later.
The Vice-Chancellor, as Patron of the Students’ Union, appointed Prof. Talib under Statute 34 of the university’s statutes. The election will follow the amended 2019 regulations. A separate notification appoints Prof. Nazia Hasan of the Women’s College as Chief Election Officer for the undergraduate students’ union of the Women’s College.
Eight years without a union
The last AMUSU election was held in November 2018, when Salman Imtiaz was elected president by an electorate of nearly 19,000. The union was suspended in 2019. After students protested a fee hike in August 2025, the administration said elections would be held in December 2025. They weren’t, and students staged a continuous sit-in in January and February.
A hunger strike and a blockade
On September 21, Yasir Fahad, a first-year MA Urdu student, began an indefinite hunger strike at Duck Point.The protest grew into a mass mobilisation, with women students joining and, on the night of October 6, students blocking an attempt to move Fahad from the protest site. Ground reports put around 2,000 students at the site on October 7, and their demands included the resignation of the proctor.
Eight years and one missed promise have taught AMU’s students to wait for the day itself. The first test comes on October 29, when nominations open. For now, students who spent weeks chanting “We want AMUSU back” have a calendar with a date on it.
