In a referendum, 93% of teachers vote for JNU VC’s resignation

Ninety-three per cent teachers voted against the continuance of M Jagadesh Kumar as Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in a referendum conducted on Tuesday.

Of the 586 teachers listed at the varsity, 300 teachers turned up to cast their vote on the question whether Kumar should remain as the VC of the varsity. As many as 279 of them voted against his staying in that position.

"In a surprise turnout, 300 faculty members out of a total 586 listed faculty of the university turned up to cast their votes... despite the general atmosphere of fear created by the administration.

"The university has been recently indulging in individual targeting, issuing notices against faculty members who dare to express dissent in any manner," a statement from the teachers' association read.

The recent protest against the VC was the result of a "total breakdown of the consultative process" and "discriminatory" policies of the administration, while a multi-crore loan demand by the varsity from government through the Higher Education Funding Agency was the immediate trigger for the referendum.

A total of 288 teachers voted against the loan decision in another question which was part of the referendum.