NEW DELHI: The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), the student organisation which had secured a central panel seat in the JNU students’ union last year joined hands with two other Leftist student bodies on the campus -- the SFI and PSA -- on Thursday while the AISA forged an alliance with the DSF.
Over 160 nominations for the four central panel posts have been filed while 250 students have filed nominations for school counselor positions across 16 schools.
According to the election committee, 48 nominations were received for the post of president, 41 for vice president, 42 for general secretary, and 34 for joint secretary. In total, 165 candidates are in the fray for the JNU students’ union central panel.
Soon after the university election committee released the final list of candidates, the student organisations released their panels as well.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has announces its candidates: naming Shika Swaraj for President, Nittu Gautam for Vice-President, Kunal Rai for General Secretary, and Vaibhav Meena as Joint Secretary candidate.
Further, the ABVP has also announced its candidates for the 42 Councillor posts across 16 schools and specialised centres giving priority to female representatives. ABVP will approach JNU students with issues such as improving campus infrastructure, ensuring women safety, affordable and quality education and creating a responsive students’ union, a student leader said.
Meanwhile, many organisations could not decide their list of candidates as the withdrawal process could not be completed on Thursday, due to the alleged intervention of ABVP.
SFI president Sooraj Elamon said, “ABVP disrupted the entire process. We were contesting for the post of President but the other organisations which were in alliance with us could not decide their candidates. We have been protesting and demanding the administration to open the withdrawal window and give us more time.”
The SFI-BAPSA-PSA alliance could not release their candidates’ list for the central panel. The AISA-DSF too condemned the alleged violence by ABVP at the election office during withdrawal of nominations.
“ABVP members stormed into the EC office, broke glass panes, dismantled barricades, and created a ruckus that disrupted the functioning of the commission,” an AISA leader said.