The Left unity candidates on Sunday morning won all four seats in the JNU students’ body elections. The university witnessed 58% voting this year to elect the new office-bearers of the students’ union.
This year’s election was primarily a three-cornered fight between the right-wing ABVP, the Left Unity of AISA, SFI and DSF, and the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA).
While Nidhi Tripathi (ABVP Presidential Candidate) was in the lead until the end, Geeta Kumari (Left Unity Presidential Candidate) managed to win over the victory edge finally with a margin of 464 Votes. Kumari, who was backed by three parties, polled 1506 votes, Tripathi managed to get 1042 votes just by representing one party. Her vote share also assumes significance given that the JNU has traditionally been deemed as the Left bastion.
As expected, the ABVP supporters made this aspect abundantly clear while commenting on the final results of the poll.
ABVP remain d single largest organisation in JNU. got 1042 votes n secured 2nd position on al d central post despite d unholy nexus of left
— Binit lal (@lalbinit) September 9, 2017
It is, therefore, imperative to mention that ABVP enjoyed a majority on the campus as a sole entity, while AISA, SFI and the DSF had to join hands (à la Mahagathbandhan), either due to the growing popularity of ABVP or fear of losing home ground.
“We have not lost. ABVP has the majority on campus, it is the Left that is in minority. It is the strength of ABVP’s ideology that has forced so many Left student groups to make an alliance. The sole purpose of their alliance is to defeat the ABVP,” Tripathi was quoted as saying.
Of course it is Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (Whoever wins is the emperor), however, ABVP has surely scaled themselves up by narrowing the margin of defeat this year. Kumari will replace Mohit Pandey, also from the Left, as the new JNUSU president.
The JNU campus has been a centre of intense politics in the last couple of years after the alleged chating of anti-national slogans dominated the national politics. Since then, the stakes have become higher for the students’ body polls here.
One wonders what would have been the outcome had the Left student bodies not come together against the ABVP in this year’s polls.
