With four days to go for the Panjab University Student Council elections, the campaign trail has spilled onto Instagram, with anonymous meme pages and reels mocking candidates, political parties and even the way electioneering unfolds on campus. From poking fun at student leaders “appearing differently” when they encounter first-year students to placing rival presidential candidates in a WWE-style face-off, the memes are turning the usually intense election season into an online roast.
Pages such as pu.roast and pu_buzz have been posting election-related content, while accounts including puastarr and pu.rdemocracy have particularly targeted NSUI. One meme shows ASAP presidential candidate Aadil Brar and NSUI presidential candidate Gurman in a WWE-style ring, while another, using a scene from the Bollywood film Delhi Belly, jokes about party leaders reaching hostel rooms during campaigning.
Some pages have built a sizeable archive around the elections. pu.roast, for instance, has around 195 posts, many centred on student politics and election-related incidents. The memes, however, have also spilled over into real-life friction. A spat recently broke out among students at the geology canteen over a meme targeting SOI.
“Anonymous meme pages have become a feature of student elections everywhere, largely because those behind them are difficult to identify and rarely face accountability for defamatory content,” noted Rajwinder Singh, student activist.
Former PUSC president Archit Garg, however, said the content could sometimes cross the line. “Sometimes they go below the belt. Political content is fine, but personal memes are a problem. Two years ago, a presidential candidate was trolled over personal issues. Such things are brought into the limelight, and sometimes people start thinking these rumours are true. It fuels rivalry,” he said. “It also puts more pressure on the candidates as to how they carry themselves because tthe slightest slip of the tongue or change in demeanour could become the next meme,” he highlighted.
{{/usCountry}}Former PUSC president Archit Garg, however, said the content could sometimes cross the line. “Sometimes they go below the belt. Political content is fine, but personal memes are a problem. Two years ago, a presidential candidate was trolled over personal issues. Such things are brought into the limelight, and sometimes people start thinking these rumours are true. It fuels rivalry,” he said. “It also puts more pressure on the candidates as to how they carry themselves because tthe slightest slip of the tongue or change in demeanour could become the next meme,” he highlighted.
{{/usCountry}}INSO leader Rajat Nain said students associated with different parties run some of these pages and use them to disrupt the campaigning of rivals. “This has been happening since the 2017 elections,” he said.
For many students, the pages are not merely another tool in the political battle. “These provide a lighter side to the otherwise intense election atmosphere. There is so much campaigning and political mudslinging around this time, so it is nice to have something to laugh about,” said Varnika, a second-year law student.
Beyond targeting candidates, the meme pages are also turning the election process itself into content poking fun at campaign rituals, hostel visits and the sudden attention showered on students during polling season.
For all the noise, however, their influence may depend largely on reach. Candidates and student leaders say bigger pages with a substantial following can shape the online conversation, while smaller anonymous accounts often struggle to make much impact.
With campaigning entering its final stretch, the meme war is emerging as an unofficial side-show to the election, one where candidates may have little control over the narrative, but where students are certainly having their share of fun.