RSS affiliate ABVP stands second, while the NSUI, the Congress’ student wing, fails to make a mark.
New Delhi: The Left has once again swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) polls, winning all the four key posts in the central panel in this year’s election.
The results came after one of the most tumultuous student elections in recent history, where counting was stopped for 14 hours over an alleged attack by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the vote-counting site.
The results for Friday’s election were finally announced after noon Sunday.
The winning Left alliance comprises the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Association (AISA), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), and Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF). Its representatives will now hold the posts of president, vice-president, joint secretary and general secretary.
The Left alliance had also swept last year’s JNUSU election.
Also read: Under Lalu’s banner, Kanhaiya Kumar’s ex-comrade wants to expose Right & Left in JNU
While AISA’s N. Sai Balaji defeated Lalit Pandey of RSS affiliate ABVP by 1,179 votes for the post of president, Sarika Chaudhary of the DSF bagged the vice-president’s chair by winning nearly 1,600 votes than Geeta Sri of the ABVP.
Aejaz Ahmed of the SFI bagged the position of general secretary, while Amutha of the AISF won the post of joint secretary. The Congress’ student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), failed to make a mark.
In its debut election at JNUSU, the presidential candidate of the Rashtriya Janata Dal student wing won just 540 votes
“The government tried its best to suppress our voices by giving full autonomy to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad,” said Sashi Tripathi, the general secretary of AISA’s JNU unit.
“This victory against the ABVP proves that student unity cannot be subdued, come what may,” he added.
Ruckus on the campus
The results of the election, which registered a voter turnout of 68 per cent, came after multiple reports of vandalism and unrest on the campus.
Also read: In midnight ruckus, counting of votes in JNU stalled for more than 10 hours
On Friday night, members of the ABVP accused the JNU election commission of being biased towards the Left and created a ruckus.
The situation worsened when they allegedly started vandalising campus property.
Shocked! Never seen something like this in JNU. ABVP goons broke glass doors and forcibly tried to enter the #JNUSU_Election2018 counting venue last night. They attacked the members of Election Committee and tried to snatch ballot boxes. Counting suspended.
Photos via @Mohit_JNU pic.twitter.com/77f1UewLqi
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) September 15, 2018
On Saturday night, members of the Left alliance alleged that ABVP members brought outsiders in SUVs to the campus, including the newly elected Delhi University Student Union vice-president Shakti Singh, who had earlier been accused of creating a ruckus at Zakir Hussain College.
Terror in JNU campus, as ABVP men in Scorpios armed with lathis are going around the campus beating up people. As per entry register at the gate, 4 Scorpio cars have entered with Saurabh Sharma’s reference.@DelhiPolice & JNU VC @mamidala90 are allowing all this to happen. pic.twitter.com/uwf7gpvJqw
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) September 15, 2018
“They tried to bring outsiders to create fear among students, but still lost the election,” said Tripathi.
“When the ABVP got to know it was losing, it tried to stop the counting of votes,” he added, “They brought hockey sticks, cars and outsiders, but JNU has elected social justice, gender justice and secularism.”
However, the ABVP denied the claims. Saurabh Sharma, the joint secretary for ABVP Delhi, said ahead of the results, “The Left is losing, that is why they are trying to defame us. The ABVP hasn’t done any such thing.”
Left ke liye hallowed ground hai. Consistently rated one of the finest educational institutions in the country. Creates more mandarins each year than St Stephen’s. In a healthy democracy, some spaces should be conceded gracefully, not contested beyond a point.