JNUSU polls: 7 candidates in fray for president post

The Election Committee of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday released the final list of candidates contesting the posts of president, vice-president, general secretary, and joint secretary in the upcoming JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) polls scheduled for November 4.

While seven candidates are in the fray for the president’s post, three will fight it out for the vice-president’s post, and five each are vying for the posts of general secretary and joint secretary.

This year, the All India Students’ Association, the Students’ Federation of India, and the Democratic Students’ Federation have formed an alliance – Left Unity – to “prevent the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) from entering the union”.

Addressing a press conference, the Left Unity candidates outlined the issues they want to work on and unveiled poll promises.

Aditi Mishra, the alliance’s presidential candidate, said she would focus on “infrastructure development and commodification of education”. Attacking the ABVP, she said, “We can see that violence is what gets you higher posts in ABVP. I want to intensify the work done by the previous union.”

ABVP’s presidential candidate, Vikas Patel, said the Left-led JNUSU “makes the same promises in their manifesto every year and fails to fulfil them”.

The ABVP said that the Left organisations have failed to “maintain academic quality, infrastructure development, and democratic discourse”.

Vikash, presidential candidate of the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India, said, “There’s a right-left binary that we want to change.”

“Curtailing of protests” occurred while the Left was at the helm, he said.

Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association’s Raj Ratan Rajoriya is among other candidates vying for the top post.