Left sweeps Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ polls, trumps RSS-backed ABVP
The Left on Sunday made a clean sweep in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNUSU) Students’ Union election and defeated the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which at one point of time, was leading as the counting of votes was on.
The Left won all four posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary, in the JNUSU polls held after a gap of four years.
Dhananjay from the All India Students Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president post by securing 2,598 votes against ABVP candidate Umesh C Ajmeera, who secured 1,676 votes.
Avijit Ghosh from the Students Federation of India (SFI) got 2,409 votes and took the vice president post, trouncing ABVP’s Deepika Sharma, who managed 1,482 votes.
Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) candidate Priyanshi Arya (2,887 votes), who was supported by the Left, won the general secretary post, defeating ABVP’s Arjun Anand (1,961 votes) by a margin of 926 votes.
The Left extended its support to Arya after the Election Committee cancelled the nomination of its candidate Swati Singh when her candidacy was challenged by the ABVP.
Left candidate Mohammad Sajid secured 2,574 votes and won the joint secretary post by defeating ABVP’s Govind Dangi, who got 2,066 votes.
As votes were counted on Sunday morning, the ABVP took leads in all four posts as per the trends, which surprised many. However, as the day progressed, the Left caught up with the ABVP and eventually won.
Polling for the four-member central panel, which constitutes the posts of president, vice president, joint secretary and general secretary, and other posts was done on Friday (March 22).
Speaking to Aaj Tak TV/India Today TV, Dhananjay said the Left’s win was a victory for JNU students.
“It is the Left, which fights for students’ issues and gives representation to every section of society. This victory is the answer to the betrayal done by the government,” he said.
He added, “Our fight is to give affordable education to marginalised students and against caste discrimination, and our focus is to represent every section of society. We will fight for funds and other campus-related issues.”
ABOUT JNUSU POLLING
Polling began at the 17 booths set up across different Centres of Studies at JNU around 11 am and continued till 7 pm. It was supposed to begin at 9 am. The JNUSU presidential debate took place on Wednesday (March 20).
Over 7,700 registered electors cast their votes through a secret ballot. A voter turnout of 73 per cent was witnessed, the highest in 12 years, according to a comparison from previous years’ data.
JNU saw 67.9 per cent voter turnout in 2019, 67.8 per cent in 2018, 59 per cent in 2016-17, 55 per cent in 2015, 55 per cent in 2013-14 and 60 per cent in 2012.
The last JNUSU results, for the polls held in 2019, were not notified by the university administration, and hence the recognition of the Left, which swept the election, was a contested topic among the students.