United Left Set to Win Big in JNUSU

New Delhi: The results of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) polls have not been officially declared yet, as per the directions of the Delhi High Court, though the counting process was completed on Sunday, September 8. However, according to the trends announced by the Election Committee (EC) during the counting of votes, the United Left panel, consisting of four student organisations, is all set for a landslide victory in the university yet again, bringing back the president’s post to SFI after 13 years.

The other key organisations in the fray were the RSS-backedAkhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Birsa-Ambedkar-Phule Students Association, the National Students Union of India among others.

On Sunday, the EC, completely led by the students, handed over the complete election result to the Dean of Students in a sealed envelope, as the notification of results cannot be issued until September 17. This order was issued by the court after the hearing of a couple of petitions accusing the JNU EC of violating the Lyngdoh Committee rules.

Nevertheless, the United Left panel ( Students Federation of India or SFI, Democratic Students Federation or DSF All India Students Association or AISA and All India Students Federation or AISF) took out a victory march in the campus on Sunday night, following the declaration of the final trend by the EC. 

During the march, Aishe Ghosh, the presidential candidate said, “We need to understand that the JNU administration has been constantly trying to pave way for Right-wing politics in the university. After realising that they cannot win the JNUSU polls democratically, they tried to stop the election process by going to court. This victory will show them that they cannot silence the voices of the students. This is our university, and we will do everything to protect it from the fascist forces.” 

According to the last trend declared by the EC, Ghosh, an M.Phil student of International Studies, hailing from Durgapur, West Bengal, had won 2,069 of the 5,050 votes officially counted.

Although the counting of all 5,762 votes cast for the four main posts was completed by the EC, the announcement of the tallies was stopped at 5,050 votes. As per this announcement, Ghosh already had a lead of over 1,000 votes over the nearest rivals, Jitendra Suna of BAPSA and Manish Jangid of ABVP. 

The Left panel was leading with margins of more than 1,000 votes for all four posts of the central panel. 

The vice-presidential candidate, Saket Moon of DSF, had the highest lead of more than 3,000 votes, after the final announcement of trends. For the post of general secretary, Satish Chandra Yadav of AISA, and AISF’s Mohammed Danish for the post of joint secretary were also leading by more than 1,000 votes. 

Ghosh said, “No matter how hard the administration and the Right-wing forces try to muffle our voices, they will not be able to defeat us, we will keep raising our voices again and again. This election, this win, is a call of war against the fascist policies of the RSS-backed university administration. Our fight will only get stronger from this point.”