People's Democracy

Left Wins HCU Student Polls Again  

Complete Wash Out of ABVP from the campus

IN an overwhelming mandate, the Left wing students group, University Discussion Forum (UDF), which is affiliated to the Students Federation of India (SFI), won for the second consecutive year in the recently concluded student polls at the Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad. The resounding success of the Left in the polls held on February 5 led to a complete wash out of the Right wing communal students organisation, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), from the campus.

The UDF contested these polls in alliance with the other dalit and democratic student groups in the university. Out of the six main posts in the central panel, four were unanimously elected as a result of this alliance – the ABVP did not even dare to put up any candidate against the Left-led panel for these four posts. In the other two posts of president and vice-president, there was a contest. The UDF presidential candidate Kishore Kumar inflicted a crushing defeat to his rival ABVP candidate. He won with a margin of 644 votes, an all time record in the university. Out of the total 1,423 votes polled, Kishore got 1,021 votes while the ABVP candidate, Nihar Ranjan Mishra, could only manage a meagre 377 votes. The UDF vice presidential candidate, Swaroop Kumar, defeated his rival ABVP candidate by a margin of 255 votes. The UDF candidate for general secretary post, Masum Ali, was unanimously elected as the ABVP had no candidate to field against him. The other UDF candidates who were elected unanimously for the posts of joint secretary, cultural secretary and sports secretary were Vijay Anand, Sujata and Praveen respectively. All the school board members and student councillors contesting from the UDF panel have been elected.

This year’s result is significant from two important angles: 1) it signifies a positive vote for the UDF with the impressive performance and achievements of the last year’s student union led by UDF presidential candidate Bheem Reddy, and 2) it is a complete rejection of the communal, cynical and money-power based politics of the ABVP.

Reacting to the win, the newly elected general secretary, Masum Ali, said that the UDF is firmly determined to carry forward its struggle for students’ welfare in a vigorous way. He said the UDF would be very alert in its activities, political debates and discussions to ensure that the space for the divisive forces will be further reduced in the campus. The union would fight tooth and nail the attempts of the UGC to commercialise higher education through introduction of the Model Act, he said.