The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s clear sweep in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections may also play as a major indicator for the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Student Union (JNUSU) polls. Though ABVP has in comparison to other years made a significant entry in the left-dominated university this year, there has been value addition in their support base. The earlier 400 odd member strong ABVP in JNU this year managed a sudden 100 per cent increase in their volunteer base. Even if they don’t win a seat in JNUSU, results of which will be declared on Monday, they have set for themselves a good stance which will make a difference in the coming years.
JNU’s politics has always been one backed by the ideology of the left. For the past few years it has been the All India Students’ Association (AISA) which has dominated the university. last year AISA won all four seats in JNUSU defeating other prominent left unions like Democratic Students’ Front (DSF) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI). However, AISA’s stronghold in JNU was recently affected by allegations of sexual harassment on its JNUSU president Akbar Chaudhary. This, coupled with BJP forming the Government, has given a push to ABVP.
On polling day as well, for the first time JNU saw quite a number of ABVP supporters who felt that with the BJP in power, they were a good option to vote for. ABVP had also conducted a volunteer drive while preparing for their election campaign. In that they managed to gather over 500 more supporters than they had earlier.
While, it doesn’t seem that they would win anything because of the prominence of the left, they will grab votes affecting the final result.