Student reps disqualified over Facebook campaign

Seven Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) students are crying foul after university authorities annulled their victories in the recent campus elections.

Their apparent infraction - campaigning in groups and on popular social networking website Facebook.

The group received written notices about the invalidation of their wins by the student affairs department yesterday evening.

Now, the runner-up candidates will automatically fill in the posts vacated by the seven.

The seven students are Muhammad Hazim Md Noh, Amirul Rahman Mohd Khozam, Mohd Rafi Abu Bakar, Mohd Hanif Md Radzi, Nurul Hanisah M Yunus, Siti Hajar Zolqarnain and Azlinda Abdullah.

All seven are aligned to the pro-mahasiswa (pro-students) faction, the traditional rivals of the aspirasi (pro-administration) faction.

However, pro-students' spokesperson Ahmad Faris Rakbi said another four of its candidates did not face such predicament.

48 seats were contested, including 32 at faculty level.

The seven initially received a warning letter from UPM's student affairs department last Sunday, forbidding them to campaign online.

However, the seven are contesting that it was other students who were promoting them online.

Ahmad Faris explained that the students are disputing the annulment, as they are innocent.

"It was the work of other students. Our campaign only involved posters approved by UPM's election committee," he added.

In a related development, Universiti Putra Malaysia's corporate communication chief Abdullah Arsyad said as of 5pm, all the affected students failed to file their appeal.

He said the campus electoral committee will meet tonight to discuss the issue, adding that a decision can be expected tomorrow.