SOPU,PUSU form alliances; ABVP,INSO to go it alone

The two major parties — Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) and Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) — have announced their alliances and panel of office-bearers for this year’s student council. Apart from these two alliances,Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Indian National Students’ Organisation (INSO) will be contesting on their own.

For the first time,the SOPU will be allying with three other parties — Students’ Organisation of Indai (SOI),Hindustan Students’ Association (HSA) and Students Federation of India (SFI). The panel includes a SOPU member for the position of president,SOI member for vice-president,HSA member as secretary and SFI member as joint secretary. For the position of president,Sattinder Singh alias Satti from the Department of Geology has been fielded while for the position of secretary,Kuldeep Sharon from the Department of Laws will be contesting the polls. The final nominees of this alliance for the posts of vice-president and joint secretary will be decided by Tuesday morning.

The alliance of PUSU and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has declared a joint panel. For the position of president,Abhinav Puri,fifth year UIET student,will be contesting the elections. While Smriti Brar from UILS,fifth year,is the vice-presidential candidate,Ranjit Singh,a third year student from the Department of Laws,has been fielded for the position of secretary,and Akashdeep Singh,second year UIAMS student,is nominated as the joint secretary.

The INSO also declared their panel on Monday,becoming the only party to be fielding a woman candidate for the post of president,though their party president was also eligible for the same. Rita,a final year LLM student,will be contesting for the presidential seat and Harman Singh,a PhD research scholar of environment science,is contesting for the post of vice-president. Somvir Singh,final year student of public administration and the current party president,will be contesting for the seat of secretary while Amit Chahal,first year chemical engineering student,will be contesting for the post of joint secretary.

The ABVP had announced their panel for this year’s students elections on Sunday. Parvesh Chandel,a second year student at the Department of Mass Comminication,has been nominated to contest for the post of the president. Gitika,a first year student of MA English,is nominated to contest for the post of vice-president. For the post of general secretary,the party has nominated Priyaranjan,a fourth year UIET student. For the post of joint secretary,Ankush,a first year student from Masters of Social Work,has been nominated.