58.7 per cent turnout in JNUSU polls

New Delhi: The contesting candidates at JNU for its student body elections tried to outdo one another on the polling day by campaigning aggressively at all the four polling centres which witnessed loud sloganeering and incessant cheering. 

The turnout remained at 58.7 per cent with around 4,600 students coming out to vote out of around 8,000. The first phase saw a low voter turnout with many students coming out to vote only in the second half. Worrying over the low turnout, all parties were seen gathering their supporters and appealing to students to vote in the last one hour. 

Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is campaigning for AISF and its presidential candidate Aparajitha Raja (D. Raja’s daughter), said, the voter turnout this year was very low compared to previous years because of various developments that happened in the last two years.

“It may be because of loss of confidence among students because of various things that happened including Najeeb missing and seat cuts in the last two years. The outgoing JNUSU despite fighting against right wing and seat cuts were not able to get desired results,” Mr Kumar said adding that ABVP would not be able to win because of its activities. The candidates and their supporters, who were taking rounds of the booths every ten minutes, broke into slogans and danced to the tune of ‘dapli’ beats. In a last-minute campaigning effort, pamphlets were pressed into the students’ hands while they were waiting for their turn to cast votes. A total of 14 polling booths were set up for about 8,000 students of the varsity to elect a new president, vice- president, general secretary, and joint secretary of the JNU Students Union. 

JNU student Nivedita Kapoor said, “This time the Left unity has broken as AISF is contesting separately. So, I am worried that the Left unity votes will be undercut”. The Left alliance (SFI-AISA-DSF), AISF, the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Congress’ National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Birsa-Ambedkar-Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) are the prominent student groups in the fray.