People's Democracy

 SFI-AISF Panel Wins In JNU

IT WAS a day of processions, drum beats and “Lal Salaam” in the JNU campus as student union results were announced late on October 21. The Left student bastion stood its ground in a sharply polarised election. In a significant jolt to the ABVP, Leftist student candidates swept all the four office-bearer posts to the JNU Students Union. The SFI-AISF combine won three of them, including the president post. The SFI presidential candidate Rohit was re-elected for a second term with a comfortable margin of 545 votes over the NSUI candidate. The ABVP candidates stood third in three posts, including the presidential post. The SFI-AISF panel candidates also won the posts of vice president – Ena Panda (354 votes margin) and joint secretary Mutaza Ali Akhtar (193 votes margin). For the post of general secretary, AISA candidate Mona Das won by a margin of 326 votes over the AISF candidate.

The SFI- AISF combine also won a clear majority of councillors that is 15 out of 26. Shifting of votes between losers in some seats was also visible and also some tactical voting according to observers. What was more visible was the ABVP–RSS vote decline, and the slow upswing of NSUI vote, besides the AISA victory for the general secretary post. Besides students’ issues, such as commercialisation of education, admission policy etc, national issues, particularly the BJP’s misrule figured prominently in the campaign.