Judicial Council cases concerning Associated Students senators and one executive regarding the Spring General Election have resulted in a presidential candidate’s disqualification, alongside election delays. Two of the respondents disagree with the decisions.
Senators voted on a motion to grant the AS Election Board the discretion of accepting choice candidates past the declared deadline during the April 16 meeting. Hanz Herman / Daily Nexus
Alleged electoral interference delayed the Associated Students (A.S.) spring election for roughly two weeks from its original voting deadline of April 25, following three cases brought to the Judicial Council (JC), or the judicial branch of A.S.
In the most recent case, which was adjudicated May 12, the JC found “clear and convincing evidence” against Senator and third-year political science and philosophy double major Daniyal “Dan” Siddiqui over allegations of abuse of power, electoral interference, code of conduct violations, concealment and manipulation of information and rights violations. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG), led by fourth-year chemistry major Eric Carlson, submitted all three petitions.
Carlson did not respond to requests for comment.
The petition ruling states that Siddiqui admitted to getting a “backdoor link” to the Elections Board website through another senator that detailed a list of declared candidates before it was released publicly. Siddiqui confirmed that he scheduled a meeting with a potential opposing candidate to convince them to drop out of the election in exchange for a cabinet position.
Other allegations include Siddiqui being a part of a senator group chat called “Senate Shenanigans” that partook in deliberations in which several senators were “excluded,” which violates A.S. Legal Code policies that concern breaches in rules, duties and conflict of interest.
In an interview with the Nexus, Siddiqui said he considered the OAG’s petition a “complete weaponization of the government” and a “completely targeted political harassment campaign.”
“I am the clear front-runner in this race,” Siddiqui said. “I think the reality is that I’ve just been subject to a long-winded harassment and political targeting campaign.”
Siddiqui said that he felt he didn’t “have a fair trial at all,” as he couldn’t properly represent himself. He noted the struggles of having to defend himself while running his campaign and being a student, and that the “entire Senate” has been “very deliberately calculated to be unfair and biased towards [him].”
“I mean, if we want to hold a constant precedent of holding student leaders accountable for wrongdoings and inactions, frankly, multiple student leaders should have been disqualified last year or recalled or removed if we held the same standards for everyone, but we don’t,” he said.
Siddiqui said “the vast majority” of his allegations are “completely exaggerated.” He said that the “backdoor link” was given to him by a senator in the 74th Senate because “they were collaborating with another executive to use it.” He also said that several people were aware of the link and that he didn’t know potential candidates were going to be on the link.
In reference to his scheduled meeting with a potential opposition candidate, he said he was just “having a conversation” with them and that “the spirit of that conversation was not to get that person to drop out.”
“It was a conversation about the association more broadly. Obviously, that was taken and that was weaponized,” Siddiqui said.
The membership rights violation charges are referring to Siddiqui threatening Senator and third-year political science major MingJun Zha, a former JC member, to prevent him from passing a motion that would extend the choice candidacy deadline. According to the petition, Siddiqui sent Zha a message saying, “There will be repercussions from what you’re doing.” Siddiqui said the repercussions he was referring to were “interpersonal relationships between senators.”
“It was referring to how people would view each other in the Senate, and I was 100% right because after that meeting, our senate climate has been terrible. And before that, honestly, in fall and winter [quarters], our senate climate was relatively healthy compared to other [student] senates,” Siddiqui said. “I think anyone who knows me on the Senate knows where my intentions are and knows who I am. I think the charge is, frankly, ridiculous.”
Previously, Zha was the senate parliamentarian before stepping down to join JC in January for one month, then replacing a former international senator in February.
According to a letter from JC Chair and fourth-year political science major Krishna Thaker that was sent alongside the case decision, the ruling “does not indicate that any other individual implicated in the charges will not be held responsible.” The decision was made solely against Siddiqui since the petition only named him.
Siddiqui confirmed that he has plans to appeal his disqualification but was unable to elaborate further.
“I do believe this ruling is incredibly unjust. I don’t plan on letting it stand. I can’t speculate as to what the election results will be until they’re revealed, but what I will say is that I think I’m the clear front-runner in this election,” Siddiqui said. “I think I’m the clear favorite candidate, and I think if all the votes are counted fairly, and if we have a fair election, I win, frankly. And I’m gonna fight to see that we have a free and fair election.”
With Siddiqui off the ballot, third-year global studies, communication and Spanish triple major Le Anh Metzger is the only presidential candidate on the ballot. Metzger was previously a write-in candidate before the Senate voted to extend the candidacy deadline on April 16. Along with Carlson, A.S. President and third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway endorse Metzger.
The second case petitioned was against Senator and third-year history and global studies double major Enri Lala, alleging that he willingly participated in electoral interference by “convincing his opponents to drop out of this race for executive office,” as well as using the legislative institution and privileged information to prevent candidates from running against him.
The petition states that on Feb. 21, Lala received privileged information regarding prospective candidates for executive positions prior to the candidacy declaration deadline on March 6.
“It is the responsibility of an ASUCSB Senator to ‘Be a non-partisan representative of all undergraduate students at the University’ Article VI §(4)(M). Senator Enri Lala failed to uphold the full extent of this responsibility,” the petition read.
Immediately after his decision was released, Lala expressed regret in not recusing himself from the vote to extend the candidacy deadline.
“The attorney general came to, I believe, that was [the senate meeting during] Week 3 and spoke about candidates recusing themselves. He said verbatim, the candidates for president should be recusing themselves, in which I did not fall into the category, so I didn’t recuse myself at the time,” Lala said. “In retrospect, I probably should have. Probably all candidates should have, frankly, and I’m in agreement with the reasoning of the resolution brought forth by Senator [and fourth-year economics and communication double major Taylor] Iden, but that didn’t have direct bearing on this case.”
The case against fourth-year art major and Internal Vice President (IVP) Açúcar Pinto alleges that as the legislative branch of A.S., Pinto “engaged in, or witnessed and refused to remedy, electoral interference.”
Senators voted on a motion to grant the Elections Board the discretion of accepting choice candidates past the declared deadline during the April 16 meeting. Three members of the 74th Senate were running for executive positions. After deliberations between the Senate and Carlson, Siddiqui abstained from voting.
“The personal stakes of those Senators running for office and at the urging of Senate leadership resulted in a biased vote,” the case decision stated.
Following the JC’s recommendation for the declaration of candidacy to be extended to May 2, three executive and eight senate candidates were added to the official ballot.
Pinto said they feel the JC verdict regarding their case was “incorrect” since individuals were allowed to submit their candidacy after the original deadline.
“At the end of the day, the deadline still got extended, more people got to run,” Pinto said.
Pinto also alleged they experienced “a level of ableism” during their JC hearing.
“I’m a little bit hard of hearing, and there were a lot of situations when I didn’t hear, and I addressed the larger body to make the meeting more accessible for me, and they refused to do that,” Pinto said. “In the process of doing that, the attorney general made multiple objections and was able to strike a bunch of things from the record that I was unable to hear in the first place.”
Regarding Siddiqui’s case, Pinto said they believe it was “completely unfair and an abuse of power on the end of [the] judicial council.”
“I honestly feel like the case was illegitimate, and it was brought forth under the guise of serving the student body, when, in reality, it was to serve the agenda of the attorney general,” Pinto said.
According to a statement from second-year political science major and A.S. Elections Board chair Ruby Hewitt, votes toward Siddiqui will not be counted, but his name will remain on the ballot for the remainder of voting. If Siddiqui’s appeal is ruled in his favor, the vote will be recalculated and votes toward him will be incorporated unless otherwise directed by the JC or the University.
Voting has been extended to May 15 at 4 p.m., and results will be announced that evening.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the May 15, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
