New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) Voting for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ union (JNUSU) elections began on Tuesday, with students casting their ballots to choose a new central panel and school councillors on campus.
The polling process commenced at 9 am and will remain continue till 5:30 pm, with a lunch break from 1 pm to 2:30 pm.
As per the election committee, the vote counting process will begin at 9 pm, and the final results will be declared on Thursday (November 6).
Twenty contenders are vying for the four top posts in the central panel: President, vice-president, general secretary, and joint secretary.
The elections, often viewed as a reflection of the country’s broader ideological landscape, have once again highlighted the contest between the Left Unity and the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)- backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Representing the Left Unity, which includes AISA, SFI, and DSF, Aditi Mishra is contesting for president, Kizhakoot Gopika Babu for vice-president, Sunil Yadav for general secretary, and Danish Ali for joint secretary.
Representing the ABVP, Vikas Patel, Tanya Kumari, Rajeshwar Kant Dubey, and Anuj are contesting for the respective posts in the same order.
The ABVP has campaigned on the theme of “performance and nationalism”, while the Left bloc has focused on inclusion, accessibility, and student welfare.
The election committee reported that nearly 9,043 students are eligible to vote this year.
The proportion of women candidates stands at around 30 percent for the central panel and 25 percent for school councillor posts.
Last year, AISA’s Nitish Kumar was elected president, while ABVP’s Vaibhav Meena won the joint secretary post, ending a decade-long dry spell for the right-wing group and signalling a “historic shift” in JNU’s campus politics.
