JNUSU election: AISA's Dhananjay elected as president, United Left sweeps polls

The counting for the JNU students' union election (JNUSU) ended late Sunday night, and the Left has won all four central panel positions. Dhananjay from the All India Students Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president post by securing 2,598 votes against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) Umesh C Ajmeera who secured 1,676 votes. Avijit Ghosh from the Students Federation of India (SFI) trounced ABVP's Deepika Sharma to win the vice-president post.

Earlier, the ABVP was leading on all four posts. The polling was held on Friday. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the students' wing of the RSS. The four central panel posts are president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary.

In 2019, SFI candidate Aishe Ghosh won the election in which the Left students outfits had allied to contest the election under the banner The United-Left alliance which included a coalition of All India Students' Association (AISA), Student Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), and All India Students' Federation (AISF).

This time, 19 candidates are in the fray for the four posts and 42 candidates for school counsellors.

The election saw 73% voter turnout -- the highest in 12 years. JNU witnessed 67.9 per cent voter turnout in 2019, 67.8 per cent in 2018, 59 per cent in 2016-17, 55 per cent in 2015, 55 per cent in 2013-14 and 60 per cent in 2012.

A JNU student sat on a hunger strike for over 32 hours claiming that her candidacy was revoked hours before the election on Friday. Her nomination was revoked after it was challenged by the RSS-affiliated student union ABVP with the Grievance Redressal Cell of the university.

JNUSU election candidates

Left's presidential candidate was Dhananjay from Gaya, Bihar. If he wins, he will become the first Dalit president from the Left after Batti Lal Bairwa in 1996-67.

ABVP's presidential candidate Umesh Chandra Ajmeera is a victim of Naxalite attacks as he lost both his parents in a Naxal attack. Other ABVP candidates are Deepika Sharma for Vice President, Arjun Anand for Secretary and Govind Daangi for Joint Secretary.

Congress's student outfit, NSUI Junaid Raza is running for president and Farheen Zaidi for general secretary.

BAPSA's contenders for Central Panel are Biswajit Minji for president, MD Anas A for vice president, Priyanshi Arya for joint secretary and Rupak Kumar Singh for general secretary.

Minji, hailing from an Adivasi community in West Bengal, could be the first Adivasi presidential candidate if elected.

Samajwadi Chatra Sabha's presidential candidate, the only female contender for president's post is from Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district.

(With agency inputs)