Sanjog GuptaNew Delhi, October 25
Final battle lines have been drawn for the JNU Students Union elections with the last date for withdrawal of nominations ending last evening. A total of 24 contenders are vying for the four posts on the central panel of the union, of which eight are aspiring to lead the union by acquiring the coveted post of president. All the heavy weight organisations in student politics – NSUI, ABVP, SFI, AISF and AISA – have moved to the new battleground after having fought the tussle on the DU campus in September.
The elections will witness 69 candidates fighting it out for the 26 posts of school councillors, while there are three candidates for the two posts on the GSCASH. The School of Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies (SLLCS) will witness maximum action as it has the maximum number of candidates (26) vying for the five posts. The announcement of candidacy was largely devoid of any controversy, apart from the peculiar lack of pre-poll co-operation in the Leftist camp.
Even though the fears of a rift in the ‘Left unity’ – the alliance between the SFI and the AISF – have been diffused after a prolonged series of talks between the parties, the immediate reaction after the withdrawal of nominations was of another emerging feud in the Left camp. SFI president Krishna Prasad said, “The alliance is very much in place and the contentious issues have been resolved through an effective dialogue.”
Traditionally, the two Left parties have contested elections in a pre-poll alliance wherein the SFI fields candidates for three posts of the four on the central panel, while the AISF fields its lone candidate for the post of general secretary. The alliance agreement also includes the area of candidacy for the posts of school
councillors and convenors.
While the SFI had continued with the tradition, the AISF seemed to have perforated the trend by fielding candidates for all posts barring the post of vice-president. The apparent reason for the duplication was the unavailability of the AISF “dummy” candidates at the time of withdrawal of nominations. Ramkrishna Panda, AISF national president, said, “The ‘dummy’ candidates failed to show up hence their names were not withdrawn. However, let there be no doubt that the parties are working in harmony and the AISF has only one candidate for the central panel.” Looking forward to the run-up to the elections, he said, “We will issue an appeal to the electorate informing that the parties are working in harmony and stating the names of candidates the alliance is fielding to avoid any confusion.”
The rift had come as a positive sign for the ABVP, which had been significantly humbled last year by the AISF-SFI alliance. An ABVP supporter said, “They will eat into each other’s vote banks, which would imply a division of the Left electorate spelling our victory.” The Left alliance had won all posts last year, including the posts of school councillors.
The main area of contention was the perceived electoral strength of an AISF candidate. Mohammed Firoz, candidate for the post of councillor from the SLLCS, was considered by the SFI to be a “fragile” candidate.
The alliance formula entails the fielding of two candidates by the SFI and three by the AISF for the five posts of school councillor. The lack of options for the AISF had meant that the SFI could field three candidates, perceived by the AISF as a sure move towards acquiring the
convenorship of the school general body. The SFI had earlier attempted to reconcile the differences by providing the AISF, reassurance that convenorship of the school was not on its agenda.
