Hundreds of students joined victory rallies on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus after winning the students union election on Sunday. In the highly anticipated polls, the United Left coalition swept three out of four central panel positions, including president, vice president, and joint secretary.
At the same time, BAPSA’s Priyanshi Arya achieved a landslide victory in the general secretary position with 2887 votes, marking the highest tally in this election. This is the first central panel seat for the Bahujan movement that completed a decade of its political participation on the campus.
The RSS-affiliated ABVP secured the runner-up position across all positions. Supporters of a coalition of left groups and BAPSA chanted slogans and sang throughout the night in celebration.
Supporters of BAPSA chanted slogans in courtesy to BR Ambedkar with drums and daflis. The winning candidate Arya dedicated her victory to Rohit Vemula, an icon of Dalit student politics, and
The elections after four years on Friday witnessed a voter turnout of 73 per cent, the highest in the last 12 years, according to a comparison from previous years’ data, PTI reported.
Nineteen candidates were vying for positions on the JNUSU central panel and 42 for school counsellors, with eight contenders in the fray for the role of president. The elections were held in two phases, which were delayed due to logistical arrangements, the election committee said.
The elections in JNU make headlines due to controversies around it. The central university has been a left bastion, triggering vilification from right-wing media and politicians. The trailer of an upcoming propaganda film, Jahangir National University, received criticism for demeaning the politics of the University.
Mohammed Kaif of Fraternity Movement, who won the councillor seat for the School of Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies (SLL&CS), joined the BAPSA celebration, calling for an end to Islamophobia and the release of student political prisoners.
United Left coalition, consisting of AISA, DSF, SFI, and AISF said the election results were a reflection of their Leadership in fighting for different issues. United Left’s Dhananjay clinched the presidency with 2590 votes, surpassing ABVP’s Umesh Chandra Ajmeera, who garnered 1676 votes.
Avijit Ghosh, United Left’s candidate for Vice President, secured victory with 2409 votes, defeating Deepika Sharma from ABVP, who received 1482 votes. In the race for Joint Secretary, Mo Sajid of the Left Front emerged victorious with 2574 votes, while ABVP’s Govind Dangi received 2066 votes.
The United Left comprising the All India Students’ Association (AISA), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) fielded. The nomination of Swati Singh for General Secretary from the Left panel was cancelled by the Election Committee late Thursday night after it was challenged with the varsity’s Grievance Redressal Cell (GRC) by ABVP.
