Chandigarh, Aug. 29 -- Even as efforts have been made over the years to introduce reforms in the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) process, but it seems that the tried and tested formula will continue for another year even as major loopholes get exposed every year. The Lyngdoh Committee guidelines specify that any student contesting the elections cannot spend more than Rs.5,000 in their campaigning. These recommendations came into effect in Panjab University (PU) in 2012, but since then even inflation has not been factored in, let alone the exorbitant amounts of money that candidates spend. Party insiders from Congress and Aam Aadmi Party confirmed that candidates for major parties can spend as much as Rs.40 lakhs for a presidential bid in PU, while in colleges candidates can spend between Rs.20 and Rs.25 lakh for a presidential bid. However, audited accounts have to be presented to the dean student welfare (DSW) after the election, which always show that the cost cap has been adhered to. The initiative to increase this spending limit was first brought up under the term of former dean students welfare (DSW) Jatinder Grover, however officials said that this wasn't pursued further as there was no demand for this from the party's side. Another project to be undertaken was modification of the eligibility criteria for election candidates. During the last PUCSC elections under DSW Amit Chauhan, it was seen that candidates who finish their bachelors usually enroll in a masters course just to remain a student in PU so they aren't stopped for being outsiders. They don't attend classes and usually surrender their degree before enrolling for another course the next year so that they can remain eligible for elections. After Aditya Thakur's murder in 2025, the vice-chancellor had formed a committee to look into the functioning of the DSW office. One of the recommendations from the committee was to introduce reservation for women on one seat of the PUCSC council, last year officials said that it will be implemented from this academic session onwards. However the project was dropped following legal opinion. Lawyers told PU that it can flout the Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines and now the proposal has been rejected. Speaking about this, DSW YK Rawal said, " At present, we are following the guidelines as set earlier. I will get an update on the proposals submitted."...