NEW DELHI: The Left Unity has emerged victorious in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) election, winning all four central panel positions with clear margins over their right counterparts. Aditi Mishra, who belongs to the All India Students’ Association (AISA), secured the top post of president of the union with 1,861 votes, defeating Vikas Patel of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who received 1,488 votes.
The win restores the Left’s dominance on the campus after the ABVP had managed to win the joint secretary’s post last year, which was a first for it in a decade.
After the results were declared, Mishra said, “It is not just a win, it is a reaffirmation of the JNU’s political character.”
Reacting to the victory, the president of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which is part of the Left Unity, Adarsh M Saji said, “The Left Unity panel, comprising AISA, SFI and DSF, has registered a sweeping victory, securing all four central panel posts by significant margins. K Gopika Babu, SFI’s candidate for the post of vice president, won by an impressive margin, marking a major political achievement for the Left progressive movement inside the campus.”
Babu garnered 3,101 votes, while Tanya Kumari of ABVP trailed behind with 1,787 votes. She is a PhD scholar at the Centre for Study of Law and Governance.
In a contest for the post of general secretary, Sunil Yadav of the Left Unity triumphed with 2,005 votes, edging past Rajeshwar Kant Dubey of the ABVP, who polled 1,901 votes. For the post of joint secretary, the Left’s Danish Ali further strengthened the sweep by winning the post with 2,083 votes, defeating ABVP’s Anuj Damara, who managed 1,797 votes.
The ABVP had won the post of joint secretary in 2015. For the next decade, the Left swept all four central panel seats. Last year, the ABVP had briefly broken the streak with another win of the joint secretary’s post.
Komal Devi’s victory marks BAPSA’s return in JNU politics
Amid the spirited contests and shifting alliances, one of the most significant victories was of Komal Devi, who secured the School of Social Sciences (SSS) councillor seat in Thursday’s JNUSU election results.
Her win marked an end of an 11-year drought for the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), heralding a comeback for Ambedkarite politics on campus. Komal Devi, a student leader and long-time member of BAPSA, is widely known for her consistent advocacy for social justice, equality, and representation for marginalised groups within academia.
Her activism draws deeply from the philosophies of Dr BR Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, and Birsa Munda, emphasising dignity, self-respect and inclusive education. Devi said, “For me the victory is more than an electoral achievement as it symbolizes a reassertion of Ambedkarite thought and the revival of a political current rooted in the struggles of the oppressed.” Celebrating her win, BAPSA in its official statement said, “This victory is a step towards reclaiming our spaces, our voices, and our dignity. We reject co-option, we reject tokenism- this is the politics of self-respect and autonomy. Komal Devi’s success reminds us that the spirit of resistance and equality remains alive in JNU.”