RUSU Polls: Campaigning picks up for student union elections in Rajasthan University

Campaigning for the students’ union elections in the Rajasthan universities picks up as the date of filing nominations approaches.

Student leaders of all the 14 state universities, including the University of Rajasthan (RU), are expected to file the nominations on August 22. The polling will be held on August 27.

Several aspiring student leaders are staking claim on the tickets of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) — the student wings of the BJP and the Congress respectively — whose campaigns are in full swing.

The ABVP is holding ‘Nagar Sabhas’, in which the organisation teams are wooing the students with issues like nationalism. The NSUI is targeting the class topper and meritorious students of each class to explain them the benefits of voting for the NSUI candidate.

Hoshiyar Singh Meena, state general secretary, ABVP, said, “Our ABVP members are explaining the students that our wing was the first to protest against article 370 and 35A (related to Kashmir), which has now been scrapped. The cities where the student body elections are being conducted have been divided into several parts for campaign where an evening sabha (meeting) is carried out gathering university students. The works done by ABVP in a year, along with topics related to nation, are discussed in these sabhas,” said Meena. For the RU elections, the Jaipur city has been divided into 28 parts and the evening meetings are being carried out each day in these areas, he added.

The NSUI has adopted a different strategy under which meritorious students are being called for discussions related to the work done by the NSUI. “We are telling the students how the ABVP has hindered several developments in the universities. Our first target is meritorious students and class toppers, who if inclined towards our ideology, will be an ideal for other students. Several teams are going to the students also to personally tell them the work carried out by the NSUI,” said Jaswinder Chaudhary, spokesperson, NSUI.

The NSUI also plans to carry out discussion sessions with the students of each university to give them an insight into the organisation’s ideology, said Abhimanyu Poonia, state president, NSUI.

Campaigning on social media has also started for both the student wings and the in-charges for campaigning in specific departments have also been appointed.

In the last year’s student union elections for RU, an independent candidate Vinod Jakhar emerged as the winner, who later joined the NSUI.

Meanwhile, several student leaders in the RU, including that of the ABVP and NSUI, claim that preparations for the student body elections are moving at snail’s pace, as only 15,000 student voter ID cards have been printed till date, while there are 26,000 students in the university who are eligible to vote.

However, JP Singh, dean, students’ welfare of RU, said that the printing of the voter ID cards is in the process and will be completed on time.

Apart from the RU, Jai Narayan Vyas University, Kota University, Maharaja Ganga Singh University are other leading universities in Rajasthan.