JNU witnesses huge turnout of voters

The election started at 9 am and continued till 5.30 pm. Frenetic campaigning continued at the entrance of various polling booths with contestants and their supporters making one last effort to swing the voters to their side.

Meanwhile, polling for councillors in the School of International Studies had to be delayed by an hour after the name of an ABVP candidate was found to be missing in the panel list. Apart from this minor hiccup, the election process went on peacefully.

The presidential post seems to be a three-corner battle between the candidates of  Left alliance (All India Students’ Association-Students’ Ferederation of India), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA). 

“We cannot jump to any conclusion. We have to wait till results come out as the competition between the three candidates is cut-throat. All the three candidates are exceptional in their own right,” said Sushil, an MA student.

The outgoing JNUSU president, however,  is confident that the Left alliance candidates will capture all the posts. “I am sure that the Left alliance candidates will come on all the seats on the central panel,” said Kanahiya Kumar. Kumar’s party (AISF) after holding their horses in this year’s elections decided to back the Left-unity contestants.  

The JNUSU elections are keenly followed by many because of the February 9 event where alleged anti-national slogans were raised. Post event, many students were implicated and some students including Kumar were charged with sedition. The February event gave rise to a debate on nationalism and also facilitated the rise of ABVP in the campus. In the effort to stomp the growth of the Right-wing students’ group, the traditionally arch-rivals SFI and AISA joined hands to take on the assertive ABVP. However, the growing popularity of BAPSA in general and its presidential candidate in particular may play spoiler to the Left alliance agenda in the campus politics.