The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) polls saw 59.6 per cent voting on Friday with an interesting triangular battle among ABVP, BAPSA and AISA-SFI alliance ‘left Unity’.
The polling that began at 9 am, ended at 7 pm. The counting of votes started late night and the results are likely to be declared on September 11 though a specific date has not been announced yet. It will be followed by an oath-taking ceremony. In the first phase, more campaigners against voters were spotted outside the polling booths.
“It is very unpredictable this year. It is a three-cornered contest. Students have become very cautious after the recent saffronisation attempts on the campus,” Maanvi Ahuja, a student of School of Social sciences, said.
The JNUSU elections have already been in limelight after the February 9 event where anti-India slogans were allegdly raised. The incident had also led to the arrest of outgoing JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others.
JNUSU, which has been a left-dominated arena for years, saw RSS’ student wing ABVP securing a seat last year, making a comeback in the university after a hiatus of 14 years.
Birsa Ambdekar Phule Students Association (BAPSA)’s presidential candidate Rahul Sonpimple has been the show stealer at the presidential debate this year. “BAPSA has a small presence on the campus, but voters in JNU are fed up of AISA’s arrogance. They had a monopoly. This might go against the left alliance,” said a student, who did not wish to be identified.
Others, whose candidates are in the fray, include Congress’ National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Students Front for Swaraj (SFS), the student wing of AAP’s breakaway group Swaraj Abhiyan.
All India Students’ Federation (AISF), of which Kanhaiya is a member, is not contesting this year while All India Students Association (AISA) and Students Federation of India (SFI) have formed an alliance named “left Unity”.
JNUSU is the representative body of the students in the university. While the polling has coincided with that of DUSU for the fourth consecutive year, the poll pattern at JNU differs from that of Delhi University.