Left panel sweeps JNUSU polls, wins 3 out of 4 posts

Earlier, the United Left had fielded Swati Singh as a candidate for the general secretary’s post but her nomination was cancelled by the election committee hours before polling. Following this, the Left alliance urged the students to vote for Arya.

The elections were held after a four-year Covid-induced gap and there was palpable excitement among students and nominees with regard to the results.

N Sai Balaji was the last JNUSU president from AISA in 2018-19.

This year, BAPSA made inroads in the top club with one of its candidates being elected to a crucial post.

Of the total 5,656 votes, Dhananjay got 2,598. He beat ABVP’s Umesh Chandra Ajmeera by 922 votes.

Students on the JNU campus on Sunday. (Image source: ANI)

For the post of vice-president, Avijit Ghosh from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) stood the winner by securing 2,409 votes, defeating his competitor Deepika Sharma from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who gained 1,482 votes.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dhananjay said, “As elections are happening after four years on the campus, it is reassuring that the democracy of the campus is intact. The student community today has shown that they show full faith in the Left.”

With 2,574 votes, Sajid won the post of Joint Secretary, defeating Govind Dangi from the ABVP with a margin of 508.

For the post of General Secretary, Arya stood the winner with 2,887 votes beating ABVP’s Arjun Anand by a margin of 926 votes. She is the sole woman to hold one of the four central panel positions, and the only candidate hailing from BAPSA this year.

JNUSU elections winner

Earlier, Singh’s nomination got cancelled after the ABVP wrote to the authorities regarding a 2023 incident, following which she was rusticated from the university campus. The order was later quashed by the Delhi High Court.

Like most years in the recent past, this year also saw a straight contest between the Left and the ABVP. ABVP has emerged as the runner-up on all four posts, similar to the last election held in 2019.

SFI has maintained a stronghold in the JNUSU polls for several years. However, when JNUSU elections were restarted in 2012 following the lifting of a ban by the Supreme Court, AISA emerged as the stronger Left force. And despite AISA and SFI forming an alliance in 2015, AISA has been fighting for the President’s post.

Polling for the four key JNUSU posts was held on Friday. A total of 7,751 students had registered to cast their vote this year.

The Left panel has been winning all seats since 2016. Like in 2019, this year too, the Left students’ outfits have formed an alliance of the AISA, SFI, DSF, and AISF for the students’ union elections to take on the right wing ABVP.

The turnout for the JNUSU elections this year stood at an all-time high with a jump of 5 percentage points – 73% students turned out to vote this year as compared to 68% last time.