The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) alliance in the University of Hyderabad (UoH) swept the recently conducted students' union elections, bagging all six posts of office bearers at the varsity. The polls were conducted on Friday and the results were announced late on Saturday night.
While the Student Federation of India (SFI) had chosen to contest alone, the ABVP had decided to ally with two other student groups, namely the Other Backward Classes Federation (OBCF) and the newly formed Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal.
Dalit-Bahujan student groups, meanwhile, had reforged the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). Led by the Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA), the UDA had the Bahujan Students’ Front (BSF), the Dalit Students’ Union (DSU), the Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF), the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Students’ Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) and the Tribal Students’ Federation (TSF) in its fold.
In a press release, the university said that more than 3,900 students took part in the polling.
The ABVP-alliance candidate Aarti Nagpal, who secured 1,663 votes, is now the new president of the students' union. Amit Kumar secured the post of vice-president with 1,505 votes, while Dheeraj Sangoji secured 1,573 votes and won the general secretary’s post.
Praveen Kumar secured 1,417 votes to become the new joint secretary, while Aravind S Kumar is the new culture secretary after securing 1,475 votes. The post of sports secretary was bagged by Nikhil Raj K with 1,467 votes.
Celebrations broke out on the campus on Saturday night even as some members of the UDA raised slogans in reaction to the verdict.
Before the polls, the SFI said that they had tried to form a larger alliance with other secular and progressive organisations.
“The possibility of such an alliance, combining all progressive and democratic organisations, could not materialise for various reasons, among which, irreconcilable ideological differences are a major factor,” an official statement from SFI had said.
When asked about CPI(M)’s student wing not being part of the UDA alliance, Dontha Prashanth, a senior member of the ASA, had told TNM earlier, “The SFI doesn’t want independent assertion from the margins. They especially don’t want to give space to the Muslim community.”