Due to unforeseen complications in the election process for Student Council president, Arun Saigal ’09 returned to the field of candidates for today’s voting, creating a pool of seven hopefuls instead of six. Between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Monday, February 18, the night of the second round of voting, candidate Ishan Kapoor ’09 unintentionally saw that he stood in seventh place on a live tally of the voting. Kapoor said that he had wanted to check his email in the Computer Center and used a friend’s computer to do so. That friend, who was granted access to the live voting results, had the results open on his computer when Kapoor checked his email. “I saw my name and position,” Kapoor said. Kapoor added that he had no intention of finding out his position in the race, nor did he see any other information, including the specific vote tallies or the positions of his competitors. Kapoor said that, after he saw his position, he resumed “aggressive” campaigning, which included sending emails and text messages to all of his cellphone contacts. Kapoor said he had previously planned this strategy. Before voting concluded at 9 p.m., Kapoor had moved into the top six candidates, with Saigal in seventh place. On Sunday, Student Council President Tantum Collins ’08 announced via an all-school email that Saigal would rejoin the race, due to “an unprecedented situation with the voting that took place on Monday” that “only recently” came to Student Council’s attention. Collins said in an interview with The Phillipian that the administration brought this issue to his attention at the Dean’s Table that immediately proceeded voting. Collins said he would not officially announce what happened until after voting for the final three ended because, “No one did anything intentionally wrong. The story could be misinterpreted, and we don’t want it to affect voting.” Collins was, however, able to dispel some rumors he had heard. “There was no glitch in the code, and no one intentionally broke any rules of the election. This is also not the result of Arun badgering anybody,” he said. Collins said that he and Vice President Jonathan Adler ’08 would provide “an adequate synopsis of the situation without blatantly implicating people,” for those who ask after 9:00 p.m. Friday, when results of the penultimate round of voting will be announced. Saigal said he was happy to remain in the race. “I’m glad I’m still in because I think I have something to offer to PA. I’m pleased to be thought by the student body that I still belong in the race,” he said. Saigal said that he does not anticipate that his temporary absence from the race will adversely affect his campaign. “I did shut down a bit, and I’ve been gone for a week, but I haven’t done too much different before and after I was in the race,” said Saigal. “I still smile at people; I still give hugs,” he said Jack Dickey contributed reporting.
