HCU student union polls : Will a reunited opposition in Hyderabad campus politics give ABVP a run for their money?
The University of Hyderabad (HCU) is set for a tightly contested students' union election next week, with three major alliances now in the fray after a week of nominations, withdrawals and last-minute political realignments on campus.
Nominations opened on September 20, with scrutiny and withdrawal of candidatures spread across the following two days. Alliances on campus fell into place only late on the final night of withdrawals, setting up what promises to be a tightly fought three-way contest ahead of polling on September 28, with results due a day later.
The first alliance is a Left-Ambedkarite-Tribal front bringing together the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), the All India Students Association (AISA), the Dalit Students Union, and the Tribal Students Forum.
The alliance carries considerable history on campus. An SFI-ASA combine had won the union every year since 2019, before the two organisations split and contested separately in 2025. That division cost them the union and handed power to the ABVP.
This year's front marks AISA's first-ever entry into the alliance, a development being read on campus as giving the Left-Ambedkarite bloc fresh momentum as it looks to reclaim the seat it once dominated.
On the other side is the incumbent ABVP, the RSS-affiliated student body, which has allied with the Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal. The organisation represents Banjara (Lambada) students named after the community's revered figure, Sant Sevalal Maharaj. Having taken power last year on the back of the SFI-ASA split, the ABVP-Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal alliance now has to defend that ground against a reunited opposition.
A third alliance brings together the NSUI, the Congress party's student wing, with the Muslim Students Front, the Fraternity Movement, and the Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU), a Left-affiliated group.
With alliances finalised, campus attention now turns to a week of campaigning, as a resurgent Left-Ambedkarite-Tribal front takes on an ABVP looking to hold its newly won ground, while the NSUI-led alliance seeks to carve out space of its own in the contest.
