The elections for the posts of President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Society for Student Mess Services (SSMS) took place in the conference room behind VKB Mess on the 14th of November, 2017. With two candidates contesting for each post, Sai Krishna was elected as President, Vaibhav Sinha as Treasurer, and Adeesh Bhargava as Secretary.

The entire process was supervised by the SSMS Election Commission – which consists of student members and is headed by Dr. Sachin Belgamwar. The Chief Warden, Dr. Shibasish Chowdhury, also oversaw the procedure.

Elections to the various SSMS posts are conducted differently from typical Student Union elections. The process requires all of three days, with a day each to file and withdraw nominations following which votes are cast on the final day. There is no requirement of manifestos, and votes are cast solely by the members of the Governing Council (GC) – consisting of nine Mess Representatives,  four members from the Advisory and Monitoring Committee (AMC), and two expert members – who act to represent the public interest.

While one might assume that the inability of the GBM to elect candidates to a council governing their affairs might seem undemocratic, Prateek Behera, member of the SSMS EC, is of the opinion that the GBM’s interests are best served in the current system. ‘The vote is largely decided by the candidate’s own conduct over the past year and his or her election pitch; calling for a GBM vote seems impractical. The elected mess representatives argue the general public’s interest, so the whole process might be similar to a representative democracy’, he says. Further, the members of the AMC are selected by a panel consisting of the SSMS EC, current AMC members, and Mess Representatives so as to ensure that no one is preferentially favoured for a spot in the Governing Council.

Prateek justifies the absence of manifestos and a campaigning period by explaining the highly specialised nature of the work. He feels that the choice of the post-holders depends on the calibre of the candidates. ‘We don’t allow for a campaigning period, as there is no requirement for a manifesto. The work is more demand-oriented than vision-oriented, and is very dynamic in nature. One cannot possibly foresee the challenges that are going to come up’, he says. The short duration of the election also works to reduce instances of collusion between candidates, who may trade votes by virtue of their membership in the voting Governing Council.

The SSMS EC is tasked with scrutinizing the conduct of those contesting the elections, and investigating serious claims of money laundering within the Council. While the election process was smooth this year, allegations of misconduct against members of the GC forced the SSMS EC to postpone the elections last year. However, they weren’t able to obtain conclusive evidence to debar individuals from contesting. Speaking about all of these issues, Prateek says, ‘The issue was not on any public domain. So, a lot of people don’t know about it. However, I do feel there is a need for transparency in these matters.’