19 SC/ST PhD Seats Missing: BAPSA’s Dharna at JNU Enters Day Six, Administration Forced to Open Gates and Hear Demands | TM Student Voice

New Delhi- Tension is rising at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) over the 2026-27 PhD admission process. The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) has been on an indefinite sit-in at T-Point since 24 October. The organisation alleges a “reservation scam” in PhD admissions, claiming that 15 ST seats and 4 SC seats have gone unfilled. On Thursday, the sixth day of the protest, BAPSA took a delegation to the administration along with other progressive students’ organisations.

According to BAPSA, the delegation placed its demands before the administration today. The organisation claims that the delegation of oppressed communities forced the administration to open the gate and listen to the students. BAPSA’s central demand is that the 15 ST and 4 SC seats be re-notified. On Wednesday, 28 October, the fifth day of the sit-in, the organisation had burnt an effigy of the JNU administration at T-Point. BAPSA activist Biswajit Minji also appealed to Bachelor’s and Master’s students to join the movement in unity.

The first allegation at the heart of the dispute concerns the exclusion of candidates from the June 2025 NET cycle. In its PhD prospectus, JNU invited applications based on three UGC-NET cycles: June 2025, December 2025 and June 2026. BAPSA says candidates from the June 2025 cycle were excluded without prior notice or official disclosure, even though registration is done through the NET portal and the initial list of interview calls included the June 2025 cycle.

The second allegation relates to the administration’s promise of a committee. According to BAPSA, after continuous struggle and repeated deliberations, the administration had agreed to form a committee to look into the reservation scam. Despite this, it has notified the viva voce for PhD admissions. The organisation has called this a betrayal of marginalised communities and warned that it will not allow the viva voce to take place if its demands are not met.

JNUSU Councillor Komal Devi said: “The university has just issued an admission notice stating that admissions under the NET category for this PhD cycle have been halted, while JRF-category admissions will begin on 30 October. But BAPSA is still sitting at T-Point for the 15 ST and 4 SC seats that were taken from us. Until all 19 seats are re-notified, we will not allow the PhD viva voce to be held. Until our voices are heard, there will be no viva voce.”

BAPSA’s list of demands is long. It wants the shortfall SC/ST seats in the 2026-27 PhD admissions to be re-notified and the 2026 PhD e-prospectus to be re-released with strict implementation of SC/ST/OBC/PwD reservations. It is also demanding that NET-JRF-based PhD admissions be scrapped and JNUEE reinstated, that reservation be applied in the viva calling process, and that the 100% viva voce weightage in JRF mode be withdrawn to stop discrimination in vivas. The organisation further seeks implementation of the Rajiv Bhatt, Sukhdev Thorat and Abdul Nafey committee reports, and wants every e-prospectus to disclose category-wise seat distribution for each programme, centre, school and the university as a whole. Other demands include strict reservation in hostel allotment, immediate promotions for SC, ST, OBC and PwD professors, a transparent Academic Council, an end to dropouts among marginalised students, and a caste census at JNU.

Slogans such as “Jai Bhim! Hul Johar!”, “No viva voce till our voices are heard”, “Where are our PhD seats?”, “Universities are not your Agraharas” and “Dalit Lives Matter! Adivasi Lives Matter!” rang out at the protest site. BAPSA has appealed to the entire Bahujan community, including SC, ST, OBC, PwD, women and religious minorities, as well as concerned faculty members, to join the sit-in and help halt the ongoing viva voce process.

The sit-in continues indefinitely. BAPSA’s position is clear: until the 15 ST and 4 SC seats are re-notified and concrete action is taken on the inquiry committee, it will not let the viva voce proceed. There has been no official statement from the administration on today’s talks so far.