Where Are the Records?: Questions of Accountability in AUSG 2025–26

In an email sent out on Saturday, October 18th, 2025 to the student body, the Ashoka University Election Commission (AUEC) raised questions on the lack of a budget and expense tracker in the Ashoka University Student government (AUSG) Public Information Drive. The Edict reviewed these claims in more detail and monitored the updating of the AUSG public records.

The Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives (HoR), in Rule 33 state that “The record of each meeting of the House shall be made public no later than 5 working days after the meeting.” However, as of the date of this article, there is no record of any HoR meetings in the AUSG  drive for the ongoing Monsoon ‘25 semester

As for the Undergraduate (UG) Council ‘25-26, according to the attendance tracker in the drive, the last meeting was held on June 10th 2025. However, the attendance has been updated only for two meetings, one on May 27th and the other on May 31st. In the past this attendance tracker has been editable by any person with access to the sheet— the entire student body at large. This issue was previously raised in the annual Accountability Debate conducted in Spring ‘25 as well. 

According to Clause 10, A.5 of the Finance Control Policy, “All financial records will be available to the student body on a live tracker maintained by the Treasury” which has not been followed for this year’s SG Expenses.  Until October, the drive did not have any mention of the budget for this session. While it now  contains a file labelled ‘Budget 2025-26’, it still does not contain an expense tracker for the different ministries. This budget has been discussed in an Open Meeting on Thursday, October 30th.  

The Rules of Procedure in Rule 25, 4 also mentions that “A standing committee may only be appointed by the House in a public meeting, which must be notified to all Representatives no later than five days before the said meeting.” However, there is no public record—in the form of minutes or voting records—of the constitution of the Workers’ Welfare Committee, a recent standing committee instituted by the AUSG.

The AUSG Constitution also states in Part III, Clause 15 that, “The House shall maintain transparency in its working, keeping public records of its meetings and decisions.” which has so far not been adhered to this term. 

As we near the end of the Monsoon ‘25 semester, these lapses raise important questions regarding the transparency of the current AUSG. It remains to be seen how these issues are rectified and addressed. 

(Edited by Somansh Sarangi and Fatema Tambawalla)