Assessing Promises, Reviewing Results: The Accountability Debate 2025

The Accountability Debate, the first event of this year’s election cycle took place on Friday, 25th April, 2025. It was hosted by the Ashoka University Election Commission (AUEC) and moderated by The Edict. The debate serves as a platform to reflect on the outgoing Student Government’s activities, based on the commitments made at its outset, and the agendas outlined throughout its tenure. 

The first half of the debate questioned the Cabinet Ministers followed by the House of Representatives (HoR) and UG Council. 

The Edict’s outgoing Editor-in-Chief, Srijana Siri Murthy (UG ’25) and Managing Editor, Keerthana Panchanathan (UG ‘25), opened the debate by asking the Cabinet Ministers to highlight the activities of their ministries this past year. The ministers outlined various events and projects they had undertaken, such as sports accommodation for athletes, an inter-collegiate events portal, mailroom digitisation, food outlet surveys, transport security, mental health first aid workshops, infirmary policies, academic policy simplification, thesis repository, waste collection drive, etc. 

Inclusivity and Selectivity in Clubs and Societies

The recent allegations of inclusivity in Clubs and Societies were brought up with the Cultural Ministry, Jazbaa. Minister Saransh Goel (UG ‘25) explained that the selection process is skill-based, which works in favour of students with strong interview performance, while those who are not comfortable with face-to-face interviews may be at a disadvantage. He mentioned that leaders of all Clubs and Societies share similar views on the issue of inclusivity in the induction process. The  Ministry’s inclusivity team is preparing a report on ensuring a more inclusive induction process, which is scheduled to be released in the next 10-12 days, he concluded. 

Involvement of Cabinet Ministers in the Security Measures Protest 

The Cabinet Ministers were asked about their involvement in the protest against security measures this semester. Minister of Community Well Being (MCWB) Padma Morusupalli (UG ‘25) said that MCWB ensured there was food, water and medical facilities available at the protest site. Sports Minister Aryaman Girish (UG ‘25) added that they provided information to the members of their Ministry so they could make an informed decision on their opinions regarding the protest. 

Minister of Technology (TechMin) Ibrahim Khalil (UG ‘25) said that the Ministry did not have a collective stance, and members shared their opinions at an individual level. Minister of Academic Affairs (MAA) Sania Bhargava (UG ‘25) mentioned that they made an effort to ensure a safe space for all students to engage in discussion irrespective of their views. Additionally, Goel (UG ‘25) said that while they encouraged Clubs and Societies to participate in the protest, their participation was eventually voluntary. Some students who did not agree with the protests felt they were being sidelined, so they worked to ensure everyone felt included, he said. 

Next the HoR and UG Council took the stage. Absent HoR members included Aekam Gulati (UG ‘25), Anulya P (MA ‘23), Meenakshi Rana (PhD ‘21), Parvathy Pradep (UG ‘25), Prachet Sinha (UG ‘25), and Rahul Kumar (PhD ‘22). Absent UG Council members were Ajitesh Vishwanath (UG ‘27), Aan Rakshit (UG ‘25), Charvi Khullar (UG ‘27) and Mohin Gandhi (UG ‘25). Pradeep, Sinha, Gulati, Gandhi and Vishwanath had notified their absence to the AUEC prior to the debate. 

When asked about the absence of Vice-President Samarth Jain (ASP ‘25), President of the AUSG, Aditi Warrier (ASP ‘25) replied that proceedings are still underway and she cannot make any comment. 

New Undertaking by the Registrar

Moderators asked the Ashoka University Student Government (AUSG)  about a new declaration released by the Registrar, which all candidates are required to sign.  According to the document, candidates cannot be a part of any “political party or organization”. If candidates are found in violation of this undertaking, disciplinary action may be taken against them. 

Warrier said it was a “ridiculous undertaking” which they planned to oppose. UG Councilor Insha Husain (UG ‘25) added that the administration had been finding procedural loopholes to undemocratically delay the elections. She said that this undertaking was an “illegal document” and an infringement on candidates’ rights to be a part of organizations outside the university campus. 

Post-Protest Standing Committee 

The AUSG also gave updates on the Standing Committee formed in the aftermath of the protests against security measures. So far, three meetings have been held with the committee. Another sub-committee with Faculty, Admin and AUSG members has also been formed. This sub-committee formulated a report with alternative measures and a proposed implementation process. After this, one more committee was constituted for final recommendations, in which the AUSG was not included. 

According to UG Councilor Ayush Solapurkar (UG ‘27), multiple requests to include them were made to Bhaskar Dutta, the Chair of the Standing Committee, but these requests were turned down. He mentioned that the AUSG has written to the Vice Chancellor for inclusion in the final recommendation process. Husain also said they were not allowed to vote in the committee’s decisions. They were excluded from the email communications, with the meeting agenda being set without the AUSG’s input. Husain felt their role in the committee to be mostly a formality. 

Workers Issues

The moderators also asked about enhancing accessibility to the Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH); Warrier said that they are working on making CASH accessible to workers as well. She mentioned that the issues they faced were more on the logistical end — such as multilingualism — rather than institutional barriers. Warrier added that the Vice Chancellor shared the Grievance Redressal Charter with the AUSG. They are now in communication with the workers to see if it is acceptable to them. 

Students Voice their Opinion on AUSG

Lastly, the floor was opened to audience questions. A student told the AUSG that ministers had personally said they would not stand again because the atmosphere is “too political.” The student further added that ministers said they “felt compelled” to send out statements on behalf of their Ministries during the protest. Warrier clarified that she did not instruct or enforce any minister to send out a statement from their ministry’s official email. 

The student also questioned the representation of minority opinions in the AUSG and the government's commitment to democracy. Husain replied that the idea of a minority in a democracy does not pertain to ideology but identity. She said that candidates contest elections on the basis of ideology and are entrusted to follow that ideology while in power. However, students are free to vote for different ideologies during elections, she concluded. 

Warrier said that anonymous feedback forms were also shared with the student body before decisions were made during the protests, but they received zero responses. Husain also mentioned that they had organised multiple town halls for open discussion as well. UG Councilor Yashaswi Hegde (UG ‘27) added that the Cabinet Ministers had sent out a feedback form after the protests concluded. According to him, the form received a good number of responses, and when the ministers were reading them out to the councilors, some of them walked out. 

A member of The Edict also asked AUSG if they were aware that their attendance tracker had open edit access; the members responded that they were not and apologized for this lapse. 

After nearly three hours of discussion, the Accountability Debate came to an end. This year’s AUSG elections are tentatively scheduled to take place from 4th May to 6th May. Voting opens on 4th May at noon — this timeline is subject to change. 

(The writer is the Department Editor at the Politics Newsdesk) 

(Edited by Fatema Tambawalla)