Infra, women’s safety among key election issues that top list of student bodies ahead of JNUSU polls

This year, All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which split last year over a disagreement in fielding the candidate for the president’s post, are in the advanced stages of discussion to contest together as part of a larger Left alliance along with the Democratic Students’ Front (DSF), said sources.

“Last year, the ABVP rose aggressively in vote share. Keeping this in mind, we are planning on fighting this election along with AISA and DSF,” said an SFI member on condition of anonymity. “Talks about which party will field candidates for which post are still underway,” the member added.

Meanwhile, a party member from AISA claimed that the presidential candidate will be fielded from AISA within the alliance. Sources from the group said the Left camp will contest jointly as AISA–SFI–DSF, with final names expected to be announced later this week.

Speaking to The Indian Express, JNUSU President Nitish Kumar highlighted the key issues in focus this time. “This year, the campaigning will be focused on infrastructure issues, fund cuts, and fairness in viva voce and appointments in JNU. Infrastructure has always been part of our campaign. Our fight will continue for the reinstatement of Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment or GSCASH. The number of eve-teasing cases on campus has also gone up,” he said.

Meanwhile, ABVP’s Shikha Swaraj,who contested for the presidential post last year, said, “Women’s safety and good infrastructure are among our priorities. Water in hostels is a huge issue, and now that winter is approaching, we need to tackle it carefully. ABVP is the only party that presents a report card on the promises it makes every year, unlike the Left, which only makes empty promises to improve the state of the university.”

“The Left’s only motive is to keep the ABVP away and spread the idea of an anti-ABVP campus on which they contest elections. Campus issues and student concerns were never a priority for the Left,” she added.

Responding to the ABVP’s allegations, Kumar said, “We don’t win elections only with an anti-ABVP narrative. We fight because ABVP acts as an agent of the BJP government on this campus. When we say funds are being cut, hostels are in disrepair, or student committees are being terminated, ABVP is part of that structure. The BJP government controls the funding, and ABVP implements that agenda here.”

According to the election schedule, announced by the Election Committee last week, the process kicked off on October 24 with the publication of the tentative voter list and a daylong correction window. Nomination forms were distributed on October 25, while filing of the nominations will take place on Monday. Voting will be held on November 4, and results will be declared two days later, on November 6.

In the 2024 JNUSU polls, AISA’s Nitish Kumar was elected the President, Manisha from DSF became the Vice-President, Munteha Fatima from DSF was elected the General Secretary, while Vaibhav Meena from ABVP clinched the post of the Joint Secretary. The ABVP had last won a central panel seat in 2015-16, also securing the Joint Secretary post by a narrow margin of 28 votes.