Left alliance wins all four posts in JNU student union elections

The Left Unity alliance comprising the All India Students' Association, the Students' Federation of India and the Democratic Students' Federation swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union elections on Thursday, winning all four posts in the central panel.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad lost all seats. The organisation is the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party's parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

AISA's Aditi Mishra won the post of the president with 1,937 votes after defeating ABVP's Vikas Patel, PTI reported. SFI's K Gopika was declared the vice-president with 3,101 votes.

Sunil Yadav of the DSF won the post of the general secretary with 2,005 votes, while AISA's Danish Ali was declared the new joint secretary with 2,083 votes.

“We hope to make the administration accountable, raise funds… especially that pool in from the Centre,” Mishra told The Indian Express after her win. “The challenges are many…major issues like inadequate seating capacity in the library and education rights will be addressed.”

She added that reinstating the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment will also be prioritised.

The SFI said that the students of JNU, by electing the Left Unity panel, had once again reaffirmed their commitment to the university's progressive, democratic and secular legacy.

“This resounding mandate reflects a clear and conscious rejection of right-wing authoritarianism and a continued assertion of JNU's role as a bastion of critical thought and resistance,” the statement read.

On the other hand, Patel claimed that he had to face a lot of hurdles to fight the elections as the administration had not been accepting his nomination, The Indian Express reported.

It was a close fight, the ABVP candidate said, adding that basic issues like women's health, hygiene, infrastructure and sports facilities, as well as funding, needed to be addressed.

The result on Thursday marks a setback for the ABVP in the university, which made a comeback to the student union's central panel last year after Vaibhav Meena won the joint secretary post, PTI reported.

Meena's victory was the first for the outfit in a decade. In 2015, ABVP candidate Saurabh Sharma ended a 14-year drought for the Hindutva organisation with his win, the news agency reported.

The ABVP's only presidential victory dates back to 2000-'01, when Sandeep Mahapatra had won the post.

Source: Scroll
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