Battle lines drawn: 9 in fray for top post

PU student council poll: Three-cornered contest between CYSS alliance, NSUI, ABVP on the cards

Akashdeep Virk

Updated At : 07:19 AM Aug 31, 2024 IST

SOI leaders and supporters during a gathering at Student Centre on the PU campus.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30

The bugle to the final leg of the Panjab University Campus Student Council elections has been sounded with the release of the final list of nominations by the authorities. Nine candidates are in the fray for the post of president, five for vice-president, four for secretary and six for the post of joint secretary.

Now, the candidates and their party leaders are running from pillar to post to woo students and leaders to forge alliances.

NSUI candidates for the student council elections with their supporters on the PU campus on Friday. Tribune photo: Vicky

The contest for the seat of president seems to be three-cornered this time. The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), AAP student wing, has fielded first year LLM student Prince Chaudhary. The party has entered into a well-planned alliance with the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), University Student Organisation (USO) and Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HPSU). The Congress’ NSUI has fielded Rahul Nain from the Department of Laws for the top post and the ABVP has its woman face Arpita Malik from UILS as the presidential candidate.

Kararnveer Kumar, USO candidate for post of vice-president (lifted by two students), at a gathering. Tribune photo: Vicky

To counter them, especially the NSUI, the rebels have fielded Anurag Dalal, a research scholar, for the post of president. Anurag had worked for eight years in the NSUI before he left the party after Sikander Boora, NSUI Chandigarh president, quit on Wednesday. The Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), which is trying to make a comeback on the campus, is contesting the post of secretary with Jashanpreet, in alliance with the Sikandarpura rebel faction, who have fielded its candidate Anurag Dalal for the presidential post. The Himachal Student Union (HIMSU) has extended unconditional suport to the rebel group

NSUI changes plans

After the NSUI announced its candidates for the post of joint secretary and secretary today, the Congress’ student wing has become the second party on the campus after the ABVP to contest all four seats. On Wednesday, the NSUI had announced its candidates for president and vice-president. While Rahul Rain from the Department of Laws was fielded as presidential candidate, Archit Garg from Human Rights and Duties Department was the vice-president candidate. Today, the party announced Paras Parashar from the Physics Department for secretary post and Yash Kapasiya from the Department of Social Work for joint secretary.

2 women for top post

This time, the university will witness two woman candidates in the fray for the top post. Arpita Malik, a final-year UILS student, is contesting from the ABVP, while Sarah Sharma, a student of Department of History, is PSU Lalkaar candidate. To date, the PUCSC has had a woman president only once, from 2018-2019, when Kanupriya from the SFS was elected to the seat.

SOI announces candidate

The Student Organisation of India (SOI), Shiromani Akali Dal’s student wing on the campus, announced Tarun Sidhu as its presidential candidate today. Sidhu left the CYSS to join the SOI a few days ago. A few weeks ago, the party had received a jolt when its seasoned student leaders had left the party to join SOPU.