The United Left coalition consisting of All India Students Association (AISA), Democratic Students Federation (DSF), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) swept three out of four central panel positions, including president, vice president, and joint secretary in the students’ union election in Jawaharlal Nehru University on Sunday, March 25.
United Left’s president candidate Dhananjay secured 2590 votes, defeating ABVP’s Umesh Chandra Ajmeera who garnered 1676 votes. Dhananjay became the first Dalit president of JNUSU from the Left since Batti Lal Bairwa in 1996-97, according to the students.
Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA)’s candidate Priyanshi Arya won the general secretary post. Priyanshi Arya achieved a landslide victory securing 2887 votes, marking the highest tally in this election. ABVP’s Arjun Anand trailed with 1961 votes. It must be noted that the BAPSA was in alliance with the United Left.
United Left candidate Avijit Ghosh of SFI won the Vice President post by 927 votes. He secured 2,409 votes while Deepika Sharma of ABVP got 1482 votes.
The Left's Mohammad Sajid won the Joint Secretary post by defeating the ABVP’s Govind Dangi by 508 votes. Sajid secured 2,574 votes while Govind got 2,066 votes.
Nineteen candidates were vying for positions on the JNUSU central panel and 42 for school counsellors, with eight contenders in fray for the role of president.
The Central panel consists of president, vice president, joint secretary and general secretary.
The JNU Student’s Union polls were held on March 22. The polling witnessed a voter turnout of 73 per cent, the highest in the last 12 years, according to reports.
The elections were held in two phases. The polling which were held after a four-year break witnessed an intense campaign.
A day before the election, the nomination of Swati Singh who contested for the post of General Secretary from the Left panel was cancelled by the Election Committee following a complaint by the ABVP.
The decision of the Election Committee led to protest by Swati who had sat on a hunger strike demanding re-election and re-nomination for the post of general secretary.