In the fight for capturing the highest post in the premier national educational institution of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which has been by large considered the bastion of the left, early poll trends on Sunday show a neck and neck battle between the RSS affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the United Left outfits.
In a close battle for the central panel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Students' Union elections, which are being held after four years due to delay by the Covid-19 pandemic and not conducted thereafter, Left's Dhananjay is leading the tally for the president's post followed by the ABVP's Umesh C Ajmeera. As of 7:40 pm, the United Left Alliance’s presidential candidate Dhananjay had 1,361 votes while ABVP’s Umesh had
1,162 votes.
For the vice-president's post also, the ABVP is giving a tough competition to the Left's candidate Avijit Ghosh, who is currently leading with 1,214 votes. ABVP's Deepika Sharma is second in the race with 984 votes.
These early poll trends are based on the tally of 3,295 ballots done by the the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election committee shared by different students outfits.
For the general secretary's post, an Ambedkarite student union BAPSA’s candidate Priyanshi Arya, supported by the Left, is leading the post with 1,478 votes.
The United Left extended its support to Arya after the Election Committee cancelled the nomination of its candidate Swati Singh after her candidacy was challenged by the ABVP. Arya is getting a close competition from ABVP's Arjun Anand who has 1,309 votes.
However, according to the trends the ABVP is leading the joint secretary's post with 1391 votes, followed by Left's Md Sajid with
1,321 votes.
The counting of votes is currently underway with votes from many schools pending to be counted.
The last election, in 2019, was won by SFI candidate Aishe Ghosh in 2019.
The left students outfits have formed an alliance to contest under the banner ‘The United-Left’ alliance, similar to last elections, including a coalition of parties such as AISA, SFI, DSF, and AISF. The aim to do so is to not let the RSS’ ABVP capture JNU.
However, with the big win of the RSS’s student outfit in Delhi University’s student union, ABVP looks hopeful to claim the posts in the prestigious university.
