I have had the unique displeasure of being involved in the Student Council elections since my Freshman year in the loosest sense of the word. My involvement was limited to talking to the few friends I had and maybe providing emotional support (or so I like to think). Ah the delight of being friends with extracurricular overachievers when you’re an anti-social wallflower. This article will probably not be a scathing expose of the underbelly of LUMS’ elections. It’s more likely to be the rantings of a coward too afraid to say anything directly to their friends so they hide behind hollow words and digital code.
I do not wish to suggest that the elections are irredeemably bad. In their best form, they are a necessary endeavor that give students a taste of real world responsibility and even a window into politics. It is a chance to stimulate conversation about issues that are relevant on campus such as the smoking policy, excessive PDA, rise of campus surveillance. Ideally, we would see intellectually engaging debates between candidates on these issues and be privy to long and comprehensive manifestos that reflect the thought and effort that went into it. The reality is much different.
Come every Spring Semester, like clockwork, the cycle begins again. The batch lists come out, the Khoka chillings increase, and every action becomes shrouded with a veil of “are they doing that with an ulterior motive?”.
One key characteristic of election season is secrecy. Ironically, a system of elected representation that is supposedly built on the tenets of accountability, is one that is surrounded by the most whispers, huddles and midnight rendezvous in the male dorms. What makes this process the most nefarious is that elections are a continuum. They do not end with one semester worth of campaigning. With the prevalence of lobbies based on cities (cough Karachi cough) and A level schools, (cough LGS cough) elections are a system of deals cut to secure present votes for future support. You get us *insert number here* votes now, and we will support your candidate next year. But next year comes, someone from your lobby wants to run, and those promises become “we never said that”. What is left, is bad blood and dents in your credibility which further cements the alliance system. A real life application of Realpolitik, no doubt! Bismarck would be proud.
Elections also seem to dominate your entire life. Even if you are seemingly disconnected from the political process, it will find a way to haunt you in some manner. Even playing rung at the khoka becomes the LUMS equivalent of middle aged uncles and their dining room conversation surrounding politics. LDF is not spared either. It is a close race between those posting soliloquies about the qualities of their candidates and those who are penning diatribes of being ambushed by candidates who are responsible for their tardiness to class.
You have to give credit where its due, however. LUMS students are nothing if not extremely resourceful. Being millennials, how can anything be divorced from technology? We have learned to introduce campaigning to the digital age. Extensive excel sheets of the batch list are drawn up and progress reports are updated after talking to each person. It is all very Black Mirror. Personal privacy in LUMS? What’s that? You might think no one has ever thought of you like that, you’re so far removed from all this. No, you are not. As long as you are a person who can vote, you are on the list. You will be getting a message to meet, or a friendly Jehovah’s Witness-esque knock on your door.
Student Council elections have become about a stick measuring contest (you know what I actually wanted to say) more than anything else. I know I am far from neutral and am being a hypocrite by saying this but…. Ignore all of these noxious aspects of the elections. Keep your head down and just go to the debates. Listen to the candidate’s speeches, ask for their manifestos, question them about their beliefs. Use your critical thinking, make an informed decision and sideline all these alliances and associations. Maybe you will not revolutionize the election process in LUMS, but you will have done your part.
(P.S. the author realizes that the context for this article has passed but hey! I don’t mind talking smack about SC any time. This was supposed to come out in the edition of the PLUMS dispatch before the elections. But I’m sure it’ll all apply to next year’s elections as well. Ah thank goodness for the unchanging nature of this awful institution.)