NEW DELHI: A final-year law student from Lucknow, Nashra Naim on Friday scripted history at Aligarh Muslim University by becoming the first woman to be elected to one of the three top posts of its Students’ Union. Her victory as vice-president, after an eight-year gap in union elections, marked a significant moment for women’s representation in a university whose political legacy dates back to the late 19th century.
At 22, Nashra Naim found herself at the centre of a historic moment at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Born in Gorakhpur, Nashra became the first woman in the 142-year history of the AMU Students’ Union.
For Naim, the victory is not merely an electoral triumph. It is a breakthrough in a university where women have long had to negotiate their space in student politics and leadership and even at certain spaces within the campus, as she said.
Speaking to the newspaper, Nashra Naim said that the election of a woman vice president, five women cabinet members and two women court members showed AMU had reimagined leadership and politics. …
She further said, “The university is not anti women. It is just that you have to create your own space. I strongly believe that “Vo space aage wasi(expand) hoti rahegi….”
“I believe that achieving this in such a short time, with limited resources and a small team, was possible because of the dedication, courage and sincerity of the people who joined us,” she added.
A member of the national executive committee of the Fraternity Movement, Naim’s father is a businessman in the IT sector, while her mother is a homemaker. She is the middle child, with an elder brother pursuing law in Lucknow and a younger sibling still in school.
Naim secured 7,091 votes to win the vice-president’s post, defeating her closest rival, Saqib Ali Khan, who received 5,818 votes. She won by a margin of 1,273 votes in a contest involving seven candidates.
Alongside her, Mohammad Noman Ashraf, a research scholar in the Department of History, was elected president with 7,797 votes, while BTech student Mohammad Hamdan won the honorary secretary’s post with 8,385 votes.
Historian and former director of the Urdu Academy, Dr Rahat Abrar, who has also served as the university’s in-charge of public relations, confirmed that Naim is the first woman vice-president in the union’s history.
He said the year 1884 is considered the starting point of the union, as that was when it was formed following an election.
An election born out of student protests--
The return of the Students’ Union election itself was the culmination of a prolonged student movement on campus. The polls were held on November 5 across 13 polling centres, following student protests demanding the restoration of an elected union.
The election was made possible after 19 days of hunger strike by a student and sustained protests on the campus, bringing renewed attention to the demand for democratic student representation.
AMU Students’ Union traces its origins to 1884, and has been associated with several prominent figures in India’s public life.
Among them is Dr Zakir Husain, who served as president of the college in 1919 and went on to become the President of India in 1967.
