New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday allowed elections to be held to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) for the current academic year by relaxing the J.M. Lyngdoh Committee's recommendations on age and attendance of candidates.

The apex court bench of Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice J.S. Khehar, while raising the upper age limit to 30 years, waived the requirement of 75 percent attendance for a candidate to contest elections to the JNUSU.

According to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations in 2006, no student beyond the age of 28 years and having less than 75 percent attendance can be eligible to contest elections to students' unions in any university.

The court did not relax the guidelines restricting the use of more than 5,000 pamphlets in elections. It allowed the use of photocopies of pamphlets in the JNUSU poll campaign.

The JNU favoured the students's union and said that it was helpful in the working of the university. The university endorsed the position taken by the students' union.

The JNU students had sought the relaxation of two Lyngdoh Committee recommendations on the grounds of it being essentially a research university where attendance was not mandatory.

In October 2008, the Supreme Court stayed elections to the JNUSU as the university did not have any attendance criteria.

While staying the JNUSU elections in 2008, the apex court issued contempt notice to the JNU vice-chancellor and registrar of the university for their failure to hold students' union elections as per the guidelines of the Lyngdoh Committee.