Student union leaders are keeping their fingers crossed after polling for the Ranchi University (RU) student union election for the five important posts -- president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and general secretary – was completed on Tuesday. Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) with 39 elected representatives in alliance with All Jharkhand Student Union (AJSU) having 14 representatives is strongly contesting to counter their opponents Adivasi Chatra Sangh (ACS) and Jharkhand Chatra Morcha (JCM) at University level after facing defeat at the college level.
All the 90 selected representatives of 18 constituent colleges and postgraduate departments under RU elected on December 9 voted through indirect method to select five student union representatives on Tuesday. This year, 18 candidates contested the election for different posts.
RU VC, Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Dean Student Welfare, SC Gupta including other University officials were present on the occasion to monitor and to keep a tab on activities of students coming to vote.
The voting proceeding started at 11:30 AM. ADM (law and Order), Girija Shankar Prasad inspected the polling site to ensure the security arrangements along with other officials as well.
The voting procedure was carried out under the strict vigil of polling staffs at Maulana Azad Senate Hall, RU administrative block. The voting time was scheduled from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm under the supervision of concerned officer-in-charges.
The ABVP has made alliance with AJSU whereas ACS and JCM are contesting the election together. Interestingly, the first voter was welcomed by the varsity official.
“If I win the election, my priorities will be to work for student welfare especially in beefing up the security. Maximum colleges lack even basic amenities here even now.
However, in mere five months time, it will be hard to cover all aspects but will try our best to fulfill all agendas as mentioned in the election manifesto,” said, Pawan Baraik, (ABVP) contestant for the post of president.
Similarly, filled up with confidence ACS members participated in the election. Predominately utilizing the current issues CNT-SPT Act, ACS at the college level election had overshadowed the presence of ABVP in RU election who recently won maximum seats at four State owned varsities registering its strong presence.
“Our strong presence has made all our counterparts realize that local issues affecting more than 50 percent people across the State cannot be sidelined. Wining in rural belts in Jharkhand has filled us with confidence,” added, Head, ACS, Sushil Oraon.
The vote counting and oath-taking ceremony are scheduled on December 21. Notably, six contestants are in the race of president post whereas two nominations are for vice-president post.
Four students contested election for the post of secretary while two contestants are for the post of joint Secretary. For the post of Deputy Secretary, four names were registered at RU.