Simranjeet Singh Dhillon became the latest candidate to clear the quota on Friday, joining Mukesh Kumar Arora, Sandeep Singh Sikri and Ashok Goyal. Chandigarh Four candidates have now cleared the quota in the ongoing counting for Panjab University (PU) senate’s registered graduates constituency, with 21 rounds completed so far.
The counting has also eliminated 21 candidates from the contest, leaving 29 in the fray for the remaining 11 of the 15 seats. Nine of the eliminated candidates had secured fewer than 100 votes. The counting is being conducted under the preferential voting system, with subsequent transfers determining the remaining winners.
The counting will resume at 9.30 on Saturday. With 51 candidates originally in the fray, the position of the remaining candidates is expected to become clearer with each subsequent round. A total of 60,044 votes were polled for the 15 registered graduate seats on September 20. The final list of all 15 elected members from the constituency is expected to be issued on September 29. The counting is part of the ongoing process to reconstitute the PU senate, whose previous 91-member body completed its term on October 31, 2024. The final phase of the 2026 senate elections is scheduled for October 4, when six ordinary fellows from various university faculties will be elected.
The first-preference counting was followed by successive rounds of counting and transfers under the single transferable vote (STV) system.
