JNU students’ union polls: Student bodies name candidates, AISA & SFI part ways

JNUSU President Dhananjay, who belongs to AISA, told The Indian Express, “We asked SFI to join us in a joint contest, but they insisted on fielding their own candidate for the President’s post. Unfortunately, they lacked clarity on who their candidate would be and we had stronger contenders with greater campus presence. So we decided to contest this year with DSF.”

According to him, AISA will field candidates for the posts of President and Joint Secretary, while DSF will nominate candidates for Vice-President and General Secretary.

The AISA-DSF alliance Thursday named Nitish for President, Manisha for Vice-President, Munteha for General Secretary, and Naresh for Joint Secretary.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also released its panel of candidates on Thursday. It has fielded Shikha Swaraj for President, Nittu Gautam for Vice-President, Kunal Rai for General Secretary, and Vaibhav Meena for Joint Secretary. The student group has announced candidates for 42 councillor posts across 16 schools and special centres and said it is prioritising female representation.

In its statement, ABVP said it will campaign on issues such as campus infrastructure, women’s safety, affordable education, and ensuring a “responsive” student union.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) also announced its picks — research scholar Pradeep Dhaka for President; Mohammad Kaif (an alliance with Fraternity Movement) for Vice-President; Arun Pratap for General Secretary; and Saloni Bhardwaj for Joint Secretary.

NSUI said the alliance “reflects our commitment to unity among democratic and secular student forces”. “We are confident of a strong mandate,” said Ravi Hanuman Pandey, chairman of NSUI’s media department.

Last year, the Left panel had swept all four central panel positions, with Dhananjay (AISA) elected President, Avijit Ghosh as Vice-President, and Mohammed Sajid as Joint Secretary. The post of General Secretary went to Priyanshi Arya of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), who was backed by the Left.

Although SFI has traditionally held influence in the students’ union, AISA emerged as the dominant Left force once elections resumed in 2012. In 2008, the Supreme Court had banned the elections after JNUSU refused to adopt the election guidelines formulated by the Lyngdoh Committee.

The two groups have frequently allied in recent years, though AISA has consistently fielded candidates for the President’s post since 2015. In 2019, SFI reclaimed the JNUSU presidency for the first time in 13 years when Aishe Ghosh won the post with 2,313 votes.

Voting for this year’s JNUSU elections will take place in two phases — between 9 am and 1 pm, and from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm — on April 25. Counting will begin at 9 pm the same day, with results expected by April 28.
Ruckus on campus

On Thursday evening, the SFI alleged that members of the ABVP disrupted the withdrawal process for nominations by forcibly entering the Election Committee (EC) premises and engaging in violence.

“A dozen ABVP members… started breaking windows, misbehaved with students, and created a commotion,” SFI claimed, adding that several candidates were unable to withdraw their nominations before the 4.30 pm deadline.

The ABVP, however, denied these allegations and said it was the Left that resorted to “mob tactics and intimidation”.

In a statement, it said, “Unable to form an alliance or agree on candidates, the Left-led student union at JNU chose violence over dialogue, chaos over consensus… Their internal ego clashes and ideological disunity stalled the democratic process, and when confronted with the consequences of their own failures, they resorted to mob tactics and intimidation.”