Ashoka University Student Election 2025: Admin rejects Insha Husain’s NOC request; USF says ‘targeted attack’

NEW DELHI: The United Students’ Front (USF) has issued a statement condemning Ashoka University for the “targeted attack on Insha Husain” by rejecting her request for a no objection certificate to take part in the student elections. The administration rejected her application along with four other candidates.

The student organisation alleged that the administration “continuously seeks to selectively target and bar certain students from the forthcoming student elections”. The USF said that Husain had a perfect academic record and no prior infractions, leaving no “legitimate grounds on which they (the university) can reject Insha’s request for an NOC”.

Additionally, Ahana Walanju, Sahej Kishan, Ayush Solapurkar and Trisha lyer - four other candidates who similarly have “no disciplinary track record or infractions” - also received the same rejection email at the same time today.

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"Suspicious timeline"

Explaining the timeline of events, the USF said: Insha Husain sent an email to the registrar on March 19 at 4.08 am requesting for a no objection certificate. She sent a follow-up email the next day as the deadline to submit an affidavit for participating in the student election was March 21.

“Then, she sent another follow-up on 21st March, to both the Registrar and the Election Commission asking for a response to which she got a reply saying that her request had been rejected and asked her to "coordinate with the Ashoka University Election Commission (AUEC)" for more details,” it said.

“The fact that the main motive was to target Comrade Insha is further solidified by the evidence that all of the rejected candidates filed their nomination after hers and received their rejection email at the same time today (7:11 Р.М).”

The students’ group said that the “suspicious timeline” indicates that the “rejections were sent in an attempt to cover up the targeting of one student”, irrespective of when they sent their request for NOC.

Further, the USF called the decision to reject the NOC request “an isolationist and Islamophobic move which seeks to target and restrict leadership roles from the grasp of women and minority communities”.

“The reason why we are highlighting this is because the timeline makes it absolutely clear that prior to Insha applying for an NOC, all prospective candidates, including members of USF, received their NOCS promptly. It is clear that their talk on diversity and equality seem to only exist for advertising and not for those who attempt to actually question or stand up to the authoritarian, oppressive, undemocratic and discriminatory administration,” it added.

The university has not issued any statement regarding these allegations yet.