The Left alliance achieved a clean sweep in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections this year, mending visible fissures, which had initially given hope to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of securing a foothold in the Central Committee.
The counting of votes, cast by students on Tuesday, began at 9 am later, and continued until late Thursday evening as tensions rose on the campus amid beating of drums, slogans and a flurry of red, blue and saffron flags.
The All India Students Association-Democratic Students Front of India (AISA-SFI-DSF) alliance has achieved a resounding victory even as it was formed after several ruptures this year.
Aditi Mishra of AISA won the president’s post with 1,937 votes. With a majority of 3,101 votes, K Gopika of SFI was declared Vice President. DSF’s Sunil Yadav bagged 2,085 votes and the post of general secretary, while AISA’s Dane Ali, who bagged 2,083 votes, was announced as the new joint secretary.
The Left Bloc has been declared the clear winner every time since 2016 – except last year. Its members also secured a majority of the 47 student council seats in various JNU schools.
This year, about 9,000 students were eligible to vote. However, voter turnout this time was 67%, slightly lower than the previous year’s 70%, and the decade’s high of 73% was recorded in 2023-2024.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Mishra said, “We hope to make the administration accountable, and raise funds… especially those collected from the Centre. Challenges are many… Major issues like insufficient seating capacity in the library, education rights will be addressed,” She said reinstating the Gender Awareness Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) will also be given priority.
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“Students have been given a clear mandate. Violent and anti-reservation policies will not be tolerated…” Gopika told The Indian Express. She said she would seek more funds, work to improve laboratories and other infrastructure, fight “privatisation” or “fee hikes” and guard against “any attack on education rights”.
“I had to face a lot of hurdles to contest the elections because the administration did not accept my candidacy,” Vikas Patil, ABVP’s presidential candidate, told The Indian Express. He added that it was a close fight and stressed that basic issues such as women’s health, hygiene, infrastructure and sports facilities, as well as financing, needed to be addressed.
Meanwhile, a statement from the SFI said: “By electing the Left Unity Committee, JNU students have once again affirmed their commitment to the university’s progressive, democratic and secular heritage. This resounding mandate reflects a clear and conscious rejection of right-wing authoritarianism and a continued emphasis on JNU’s role as a bastion of critical thought and resistance.”
“Nothing was certain until the last minute. At JNU, it’s not like the DUSU elections where the results were very clear from the beginning…” said Hema JS, a first-year master’s student.
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“Unless there is broader political will, there is little hope, even with the victory of the Left. Even a change in governance may not reverse the trend of surveillance and suppression of free thought and exchange of ideas,” said a PhD student from JNU’s School of Social Sciences.
The previous elections, held last April, saw the AISA-led Left get three Central Committee posts, and the ABVP also bag the joint secretary post. For the first time in a decade, the ABVP has returned to the League Central Committee.
(Tags for translation)AISA-SFI-DSF
