JNUSU polls record 67% turnout, results expected tomorrow

The student union elections will decide the new central panel of the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) and 42 school councillors.

Polling began at 9 am and continued till 6.30 pm, with a brief break in the afternoon. The results are expected on Thursday, according to the election committee.

This year, 20 candidates are in the fray for four key positions — president, vice-president, general secretary, and joint secretary.

Around 9,000 students were eligible to vote. 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.

On one side of the contest stood the Left Unity, an alliance of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF); and the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the other.

The Left bloc campaigned on promises of inclusion, accessibility, and student welfare, fielding Aditi Mishra for the post of president, Kizhakoot Gopika Babu for vice-president, Sunil Yadav for general secretary, and Danish Ali for joint secretary.

The ABVP, emphasising performance and nationalism, nominated Vikas Patel, Tanya Kumari, Rajeshwar Kant Dubey, and Anuj, in the same order.

The university saw a charged presidential debate on Sunday night.

On Tuesday, even as voter turnout was modest in the morning, queues grew longer in the afternoon as students, many of whom were first-time voters, arrived with their ID cards to participate in what they described as a festival of democracy.

Last year’s elections saw AISA’s Nitish Kumar winning the president’s post. ABVP’s Vaibhav Meena secured the joint secretary position — its first central panel win in over a decade, marking what the group called a turning point in the university’s political landscape. The AISA and SFI had contested separately after over a decade.