In a break from tradition, ABVP fields its first woman candidate
This is also the first time in recent years when ABVP has fielded a full panel for all four posts of the student council
In a first, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of RSS, has picked a woman as presidential candidate for the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) polls.
The candidate, Arpita Malik, is currently pursuing law from the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS). Her mother Neeru Malik is the principal of Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45. Her father, Rakesh Malik, is the deputy sports director of PU.
During the event held by ABVP at the Student Centre, Malik criticised the recent trend of money and power oriented politics.
As per former ABVP president Rajat Puri, this is the first time that the party has fielded a woman as presidential candidate, though they have chosen women to contest for the other PUCSC posts before. This is also the first time in recent years when ABVP has fielded a full panel for all four posts of the student council.
Notably, Students For Society’s Kanupriya, in 2018, was the first women to become a PUCSC president. ABVP has picked law department pass out Abhishek Kapoor as their vice-president candidate. He is currently pursuing masters in defence and strategic studies. Arav Kumar Singh of UIET is their choice for general secretary and Jasvinder Rana of department of laws has been chosen as candidate for joint secretary. North India organising secretary of ABVP, Gaurav Attri, was also present.
Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), which is student wing of AAP, announced Prince Chaudhary as their presidential candidate. The announcement was made on Wednesday by CYSS in-charge and Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura. Chaudhary was CYSS PU president in 2022. He is currently pursuing his masters in law at University Institute of Legal Studies.
CYSS Chandigarh president Sanjeev Chaudhary said that the decision was unanimous, but they have chosen to contest only on one seat this time. CYSS will also be open to forming alliances for other seats. Meanwhile, Ambedkar Students Forum (ASF) has announced BEd student Alka as their presidential candidate. This will mark ASF’s debut in the PU polls.
Students of India (SOI), student division of Shiromani Akali Dal, has announced Tarun Sidhu as their presidential candidate. Sidhu is a student of UIET. Interestingly, he was seen actively campaigning for CYSS till a few days back.
The nomination process in PU and its affiliated colleges will start from Thursday morning. The entries will be scrutinised on Thursday itself, while the final list will be displayed on Friday. The polling will be held on September 5.