The election guidelines for the Students’ Union Elections 2025-26 were released by the Election Commission (EC) on August 17, 2025. This article seeks to publicise the contents of the guidelines and make them accessible to the GBM. We hope this article makes the GBM more aware of their rights and rules that candidates should abide by during election season.

The guidelines specify that each candidate must declare an official team of campaigners for the election. Only official campaigners and the candidates themselves are permitted to engage in campaigning. All other members of the GBM are forbidden from doing so, whether offline or through social media or email channels. This holds for anonymous campaigning and anti-campaigning as well.

Hostel rooms are the only designated area for door-to-door campaigning. Mess, corridors, and common rooms (except for female candidates campaigning in boys’ hostels) are not allowed to be used. Campaigning can only be done from 5 PM to midnight on weekdays and 10 AM to midnight on weekends. Formal campaign alliances are forbidden. All campaigners must have an official copy of the candidate’s manifesto, vetted and signed by the EC, while campaigning. No other brochures or pamphlets can be distributed, nor can banners be put up. Campaign songs, rap, or music are forbidden.

All campaigning must be consented to by the person being campaigned to. Digital campaigning is restricted to designated WhatsApp groups with members of the EC as admins. No person can be added to these groups without their consent, and anyone added can leave any such group at any time. On Instagram, campaigners are only allowed to repost content posted on the official EC handle. All other posts or accounts are forbidden.

Even in hostel rooms, the maximum number of members present at once (including the candidate and their campaigners) is capped at eight. Campaigning is restricted to eleven days, from 5 PM on August 26, 2025, to 2 AM on September 6, 2025.
In addition to manifestos, candidates must also write a statement of purpose, touching on their motivations for and the reasons they believe they are best suited for the position they are contesting. The Information Seminar, moderated by the EC, and the Common Room (for HRep) and Auditorium (For General Secretary and President) Debates are the only designated means of campaigning to a large audience at once. Any mass meetings or rallies in any other circumstances are strictly forbidden.

Any violation of the Election Guidelines can be reported to the Election Commission, whose members and their contacts can be found here. The English Press Club hopes that all candidates, campaigners, and other students will abide by both the spirit and letter of these guidelines.