JNU student union polls: Left panel and ABVP neck-and-neck in key central panel posts
It's a tight contest for the four key central panel posts in Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election. As counting continued late Sunday night, early trends indicated a neck-and-neck contest between the Left alliance of the All India Students' Association and Democratic Students' Front (AISA-DSF) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The final results are yet to be declared.
As of 10.30 pm, Nitish Kumar, the presidential candidate fielded by AISA and representing the AISA-DSF alliance, was in the lead. The alliance was also ahead in the general secretary post. The ABVP was leading in the posts of vice-president and joint secretary.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Nitish Kumar said, 'If I win, the first thing I will work on is pushing for more funding in JNU — there have been a lot of fund cuts over the past few years. I will work towards improving the university's infrastructure. We will also work towards bringing back the JNUEE exam for admissions; push to eradicate the CPO manual, which imposes fines on students for dissent and protests; and push for women students to get single-seater accommodation in the second year.'
Referring to the rise of the ABVP on campus, he added, 'The last time the ABVP entered the panel in 2015-16, JNU suffered an image of anti-nationalism. This time, we, as a union, will not let that happen.'
The ABVP claimed a 'historic' performance in the councillor elections — it said it had won 23 out of 42 councillor seats across JNU's 16 schools and special centres. In a statement issued Sunday, the organisation said it had broken into the traditionally Left-dominated bastions of the School of Social Sciences and the School of International Studies — winning two out of five seats in each.
'In the School of Social Sciences, considered a centre of Left influence in JNU, ABVP secured two seats for the first time in 25 years, signaling a historic shift,' the ABVP claimed.
On the trends, ABVP JNU unit president Rajeshwar Kant Dubey said: 'It is the result of our commitment to nationalism, academic excellence and student welfare. We shall continue to work with complete dedication to make the campus a centre of nation-building and student welfare.'
The ABVP's likely gains come at a time when the previously united Left front entered the polls divided, with the Students' Federation of India (SFI) forming a separate alliance from the AISA-DSF coalition.
Although SFI had historically maintained a stronghold in JNU politics, the university's electoral landscape shifted after 2012, when JNUSU elections resumed following a Supreme Court ruling. In the years since, AISA often emerged as the stronger Left force on campus.
The ABVP last held a central panel seat in 2015-16, when it grabbed the post of Joint Secretary by defeating the AISA candidate by a narrow margin of 28 votes.
Since then, the United Left — comprising AISA, SFI, DSF, and AISF — had secured all four key posts in 2016 and maintained dominance in most years thereafter.
Polling for the four central posts was held on Friday, with results trickling in by Sunday evening. A total of 7,906 students were eligible to vote this year — 57% male and 43% female — with the voter turnout close to 70%, slightly lower than last year's turnout of around 73%.
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