In a first, three women enter ring for next PU student council president
Nine candidates join the fray for the prestigious post in Panjab University Campus Students Council, setting up a fierce contest
For the first time in the history of Panjab University Campus Students Council elections, three of the nine candidates joining the fray for the prestigious president’s post are women.
Forming 33.3% of the candidates, the three women candidates include Arpita Malik of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which has fielded a female for the post for the first time.
Sarah is the pick of PSU Lalkaar, known for its tradition of nominating female candidates, while Ambedkar Student Forum, contesting its maiden election, is also banking on a female member — Alka.
Last year, only PSU Lalkaar had sent a woman candidate, Manika, in the contest.
In 2022, two of the presidential picks, including Bhawanjot Kaur of Students for Society (SFS) and Shivali of Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU), were women — a first since 2016.
ABVP, student wing of the right-wing RSS, is betting on Arpita Malik of University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) to secure its first presidential victory. They have also released a separate “Womanifesto”, focused on women issues.
However, Malik said she saw this a little differently: “It isn’t just about how many women are contesting for the president’s post this year. Women representation in PUCSC is important every year as they form a large chunk of the student percentage, which is why we have proposed a cyclical reservation for women in the PUCSC posts.”
She added that last year Ranmeekjot Kaur of Sath had represented women in PUCSC through the vice-president’s post, but having women contest just one post could mean that this year there could be no woman in the council.
“The previous council led by the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) keeps talking about women empowerment, but it seems to be only for getting votes. They have fielded four candidates for the polls this time, yet not one of them is a woman,” she said. Among her promises, she wants to put panic buttons on all electricity poles in the varsity, which can be used by women in distress.
Sticking to its tradition of fielding woman, this year is no different for PSU Lalkaar. Their presidential choice Sarah feels that more needs to be done for women in the university.
“After Kanupriya’s presidential victory in 2018, the first by a woman at PU, the student politics has turned to tokenism and using women to get votes even though almost 70% of the university students are women. If the parent political party of one of the women candidates is spewing vitriol about women, how can they talk about women empowerment? The cases of people like Brij Bhushan are for all people to see,” she added.
Alka will mark the debut of Ambedkar Student Front in the PU polls. “Our party used to work for student welfare, but the credit would be stolen by someone else. This is why we have chosen to contest this year,” she said.
She explained how student politics had now gone back to the outsider culture, and display of wealth and SUVs. These tactics excluded women and were detrimental to women empowerment, she said.
CYSS first to announce alliance
Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), AAP’s student wing, which had earlier announced they will contest for only the president seat, have now announced a four-party alliance to target every seat on the council.
Prince Chaudhary of CYSS will vie for the president’s post, while the party will support Karanveer Kumar of USO for vice-president, Vineet Yadav of INSO for secretary and Rohit Sharma of HPSU for joint secretary.
Chaudhary was the PU president of CYSS in 2022. CYSS officials said being a relatively new party, they had chosen to contest only the president seat and had been exploring alliances for the other seats for the past few days.
ABVP and NSUI, the Congress’ student wing, have meanwhile ruled out formation of any alliances, with both parties announcing candidates for all four posts.
While this is the first time in recent years that ABVP will contest for all four posts, NSUI has been doing this for the past few years, with 2023 being the only exception, when they fought for only the president’s post.
Current vice-president candidate Archit Garg said the party was confident after last year’s victory and after their work in the previous year.
Independent candidate Anurag Dalal of the chemistry department announced an alliance with Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) for the secretary candidate, which will also be supported by Himachal Students’ Union (HIMSU), who themselves haven’t sent a candidate in the mix.
Dalal is backed by suspended NSUI Chandigarh president Sikander Boora and as per sources, the alliance was made possible by the efforts of former SOPU members who had later joined NSUI.
A total of nine candidates will fight for the president’s post, five for vice-president, four for secretary and six for joint secretary.
Officials said one candidate for president’s post and one for vice-president’s were unable to withdraw their nominations on time. Both are from the community education and disability studies department and won’t be campaigning actively.