The left Unity won all the four posts in Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls defeating the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) whose leaders claimed moral victory.
Soon after the announcement of JNUSU election results on Sunday morning, supporters of the victorious United left alliance celebrated the win by taking out a procession on the campus. The procession began from the School of International Studies to the famous Ganga Dhaba.
At the forefront were newly-elected leaders, president Geeta Kumari, vice president Simone Zoya Khan, general secretary Duggirala Srikrishna and joint secretary Shubhanshu Singh.
Kumari (24) a second year M Phil student of history from the School of Social Sciences hails from Panipat, Haryana. An activist of AISA for five years, she had been elected councillor twice and was a student representative to the GS- CASH (Gender Sensitive Committee Against Sexual Harassment) in 2015.
Kumari, who attributed her victory to students, promised to ensure justice for missing student Najeeb Ahmad and raise the issue of seat cuts after taking charge.
Khan (26) born in Banda, Uttar Pradesh and brought up in Numaligarh in Assam, is a second year PhD student from Centre for Indo Pacific Studies in JNU's School of International Studies.
The AISA activist, whose mother tongue is Urdu, found moral support from her parents, particularly from her mother Nishat throughout the election process. Khan's father is a retired schoolteacher.
First year PhD student Srikrishna, who campaigned on the slogan of 'Save JNU, save democracy', hails from Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh.
An SFI leader, Srikrishna is an active student leader and draws his popularity from being successful after bringing several amenities to students of the SIS, the school which he belongs to. He scored the highest number of votes 2,082 leaving his rivals from other parties to bite the dust.
Singh (25), doing second year PhD in 'Politics of Naming and Renaming' from School of Social Sciences in JNU, is a native of Agra. An active member of Democratic Students' Federation for the past five years, he finished his under graduation from Sri Venkateshwara College, Delhi University, and Master's from JNU. He promised to take up seat cut issue immediately after taking oath as JNUSU joint secretary.
The ABVP and the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) said they have made inroads into its vote share. Also, the ABVP consolidated its stronghold of the School of Sciences, from where its presidential candidate Nidhi Tripathi secured more votes than any other candidate.
Presidential candidate Tripathi said it was a huge moral victory for the RSS student wing. "Three parties had to come together to fight us, which shows that we have considerable strength."
The supporters of BAPSA, which was pushed to the third place after the final results were announced, considered it a victory as they were able to increase the voter base as a single unit. The BAPSA presidential candidate, Shabana Ali, said she was expecting more votes, but is satisfied with the numbers as the party has grown a strong base on the campus. The BAPSA also pledged to bridge the gap between common students who don't have any political affiliation and the JNUSU. JNU is known to be a leftist bastion.
Independent presidential candidate Farooque M D Alam managed to get three more votes (419) than AISF candidate Aparajitha Raja.
The CPI student wing is not part of the left alliance.
The ABVP's Ankit Roy, who was allegedly involved in a "scuffle" with missing student Ahmad, came third for the councillor post of the School of language, literature and Cultural Studies.