JNUSU polls: Massive improvement in vote share from 2017, says NSUI

The Congress-affiliated NSUI said it has seen a "massive" improvement in its vote share in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls from 2017. The polls were swept by the united front of Left student groups AISA, SFI, AISF, DSF that won all the four central panel posts in the union.

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) this time fielded candidate only for the JNUSU president post. In 2017, the NSUI's presidential candidate Vrishinika got 82 votes, while in this election, which saw a turnout of 67.9 percent, Prashant Kumar polled 771 votes, which the students' body termed as "massive".

Last year, Vikas Yadav from the Congress-affiliate body had polled 405 votes for the president post and was behind Jayant Kumar of the Chhatra RJD, which had made its electoral debut in the campus in 2018. The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came second on the posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary.

In 2018, NSUI's vote share for the presidential seat was around 7.75 percent, whereas this time, it doubled to 13.46 percent. JNU NSUI unit in-charge Sunny Mehta said, "From a little over 70 votes in 2017 to 771 votes in 2019, we have seen a massive improvement in our vote share."

"We have been working hard and have reached out to students and this has gradually got us this mandate. Next year, hopefully, we will win the elections," he said. The NSUI in 2017 had 82 votes of the total 4,369 polled, less than that of NOTA (None of The Above) which was chosen by 127 students.

Mehta said that all eyes are on the presidential post every year and so this year, the NSUI's focus was on it. "Even in 2017, our secretary candidate had got over 200 votes but what was noticed was the votes polled by the presidential candidate.

"This year, we focussed on the president's post and we saw a massive improvement in our performance," he added. Mehta said it is heartening to see the party perform well in a campus that is traditionally considered a "Left-bastion".

"The Left parties fought the elections in an alliance and they also had 300 varsity professors openly supporting them. The RSS-affiliated ABVP has the backing of the Centre and many forces, including university professors driving it. "We have performed well despite not having resources like the opposition parties which is a good sign," he said.

Prashant Kumar said his party will become the voice of the voiceless on the campus and fight against the "academic assault" of the administration. Three NSUI members were also elected as councilors in their respective schools.

Vishnu Prasad K and Himadree Sonowal were elected as councilors from the School of International Studies with 421 and 385 votes respectively. Aayush Neelkanth was elected as councilor from the School of Engineering with 87 votes. The NSUI claimed at 18, he is the youngest among all councilors.