JNUSU Election: Left Sweeps Polls As ABVP Finishes Runners-Up

AFTER Four Leftist students’ unions won all the important positions in the Jawaharlal University Students’ Union poll, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) have claimed that their vote share has increased over the years and they will continue fight for the rights of students.ABVP also claims they still remain the strongest single students’ body in the Central university. The Left-backed All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) came together to form the ‘United Left’ alliance to take on ABVP and the Congress affiliated NSUI.

After the results were announced, the ABPV said it was the trust shown by students towards the party that forced the Left parties to forge an alliance.

 “The ABVP will continue its fight against left violence. We are thankful to the students for making us the single largest student organisation on campus. We will continue to be a constructive opposition on JNU campus, and will keep fighting for students’ rights. The biased act of the Election Commission in the JNUSU elections is against the democratic system of the university,” said ABVP. However, the Left bloc claimed that the vote share of the ABVP declined in science schools which have been their strongholds traditionally. The Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) said last year, their presidential candidate had only got 82 votes but their presidential candidate Vikas Yadav polled 402 votes this year. Their candidates had even polled fewer votes than NOTA last year but this year the situation was different. “We will continue our fight for students. We are fighting against the RSS. Our vote share has increased and the campus has given us acceptance. Our candidate Vishnu Prasad won the councillor’s Thalapelli Praveen, the presidential candidate of BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association), who polled 675 votes, said their party would extend support to the elected  functionaries.JNUSU elections saw the highest voter turnout in recent years, with nearly 67.8 per cent students coming out to exercise their mandate. Compared to last year, there was increase of nearly 10 per cent in voting. The United Left Alliance’s N Sai Balaji has been elected as President after winning with a margin of over 1,000 votes, and Sarika Chaudhary won the post of Vice President with a higher margin of over 1500 votes. Aejaz Ahmed Rather is the new General Secretary and Amutha Jayadeep is Joint Secretary. The alliance comprised the Left-backed All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF).The Left grouping’s presidential candidate, N Sai Balaji of the AISA, defeated Lalit Pandey of the ABVP by a margin of 1,179 votes. Balaji bagged 2,161 votes. For the post of vice president, Sarika Chaudhary of the DSF polled 2,692 votes and trounced ABVP candidate Geetasri Boruah by a margin of 1,680 votes. Aejaj Ahmed of the SFI polled 2,423 votes and won the post of general secretary by defeating Ganesh Gurjar of the ABVP by 1,300 votes. Amutha of the AISF defeated ABVP’s Venkat Choubey by 800 votes to win the post of joint secretary. Amutha bagged 2,047 votes.