Srinagar – Alumni of J&K Sainik School, Manasbal, have elected Mohammed Yousuf Wani, a member of the institution’s first batch, as the first president of their association, 45 years after the school admitted its inaugural batch.
Wani was declared elected on September 3 after securing 344 of the 765 valid votes polled in an election in which the association said the electoral roll, voting figures and complete counting details were placed in the public domain.
The election recorded a turnout of nearly 74 per cent, with 1,034 alumni from 39 batches registered on the electoral roll. The voters included alumni based in India and abroad.
Dr Nawab Nasir Aman secured 226 votes, followed by Mohammed Ijaz Ul Haq Kanth with 112, Junaid Ahmad Wani with 42 and Farooq Zaidi with 41 votes.
The election was conducted by an independent four-member Election Commission headed by alumnus Hamid Hajni. Its other members were Dr G R Beigh, HOD Electronics & Communications Engineering at the NIT; Dr Bashir Ahmad, IRS, Inspector General of Registrations; and chartered accountant and registered valuer Ovais Shah.
The commission said it prepared and published the electoral roll within three weeks and kept it open to objections for a week. Five nominations were scrutinised, and two online public debates were held before polling.
The electronic ballot system was designed to prevent manipulation and preserve voter confidentiality, according to the association.
Each voter was issued a confidential, one-time Voter ID, while the ballot record was kept view-only by five custodians. A cryptographic fingerprint of the complete record was generated every 10 minutes during the two-day polling period and shared with all five custodians, it said.
The commission said no one, including its members, could view the voting pattern before counting. The count was conducted on a recorded call in the presence of all four commission members and was followed by two independent recounts.
Of 986 ballots received, 765 were declared valid. The remaining 221 were rejected — 142 because of repeat submissions against Voter IDs that had already been used and 79 because the IDs were not on the electoral roll.
The association said the rejected ballots and reasons for rejection, along with the complete count sheet and valid ballots identified by voter ID, were made available on its website.
“Seven hundred and sixty-five men voted from Manasbal, Leh, Delhi, the Gulf and Canada, and every one of them can check on his phone that his ballot was counted,” Hajni said.
“We did not ask the members to trust the Commission. We built it so they did not have to,” he said.
Wani took oath as president on September 5 at an online ceremony attended by alumni from across India and abroad. The Principal of J&K Sainik School, Manasbal, was also present and addressed the alumni.
In his address, Wani said his mandate extended to all alumni irrespective of the batch or region they belonged to.
“I am not the President of the men who voted for me. I am the President of every alumnus of this School, of every batch and every region,” he said.
Wani said his immediate priorities included setting up an independent Constitution Drafting Committee, with applications open to all members, and holding a formal gathering at the school on September 14, the anniversary of the first batch’s admission.
The association also plans to register itself as a Section 8 company under the Companies Act, with the stated objective of ensuring greater transparency in its elections, accounts and governance.
The association has around 2,800 alumni, including serving and retired armed forces personnel, civil servants, doctors, engineers, academics and entrepreneurs across India and abroad.
Its stated objectives include supporting alumni facing hardship, mentoring and providing scholarships to students, and assisting the school.
J&K Sainik School, Manasbal, situated on the banks of Manasbal Lake in Ganderbal district, admitted its first batch on September 14, 1981. The institution has since trained students from across Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, with many pursuing careers in the armed forces, civil services and other professions.
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