Counting of votes for JNUSU polls begins
New Delhi, Sep 7: The counting of votes for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls began on Saturday after an 11-hour delay due to a deadlock between the students and the administration, the varsity's Election Committee said.
After the Delhi High Court on Friday restrained the JNU from notifying the election results till September 17, it was decided at a meeting between the student-run Election Committee (EC) and all the parties around 10 pm to go ahead with the counting, it said.
The counting process began at 11:55 pm, JNU EC chairman Shashank Patel said.
However, it had to be put on hold due to a deadlock between the student community and the JNU's Grievance Redressal Cell (GRC) over the latter's demand that the counting agents give a written undertaking stating they would not disclose the results, he said.
"The EC tried its best to convince the GRC to change its stand based on the demands of the student community," Patel said, adding that the deadlock led to an 11-hour delay in the counting process.
When a consensus could not be reached even after so many hours, the EC decided to resume the counting of votes anyway with declaration of trends, the EC chairman said.
The result, however, will be put on hold, he added.
The JNUSU polls, held on Friday, witnessed a 67.9 per cent voter turnout, believed to be the highest in seven years.
Earlier, the results were supposed to be declared on Sunday.
The high court order restraining the university from declaring the results came on pleas by two students alleging that their nominations for election of councillor in the JNUSU were illegally rejected.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
