NSUI wins president, general secretary posts in Patna University polls

NSUI defeats ABVP and JD-U to win president and general secretary posts in Patna University Students’ Union polls amid lowest voter turnout

Patna: The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) bagged both the president and general secretary posts in the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) election. The election results were announced late Saturday night.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) bagged both the president and general secretary posts in the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) election (PTI)

Last year, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had bagged the president’s post, defeating NSUI.

NSUI’s Shantanu Shekhar won the election for the president’s post by a margin of 1,496 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Prince Kumar of Chhatra JD-U. There were 11 candidates in the fray. The NSUI candidate, a postgraduate student from the department of Statistics, polled the highest 2,896 votes out of just over 7,500 valid votes.

NSUI had made a strong presence last time, with its candidates winning two seats for the first time in a long period and finishing runners-up in the elections for the posts of president and vice president. This time, it bagged both the key posts to stamp its authority in an election marked by the lowest voter turnout.

For the post of general secretary, NSUI’s Khushi Kumari secured 2,164 votes to defeat her nearest rival, RJD’s Pratyush Raj.

Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram congratulated the NSUI candidates on their victory. “This is a reflection of the growing popularity of the Congress among the youth and the reach of our student organisation,” he said.

In a first, the post of vice president went to a woman. Independent candidate Sifat Faiz defeated Ayush Harsh of the JD-U to bag the seat by 71 votes.

Out of the five central panel seats, two went to women, while it was three last year. Last year, independent candidates had won the posts of vice president and general secretary in a keenly fought election, but this year there is just one independent in the central panel.

The ABVP won the seats of joint secretary and treasurer. Its candidate Abhishek Kumar defeated NSUI’s Munawwar Azam by 422 votes for the joint secretary’s post, while for the post of treasurer, its candidate Harsh Vardhan defeated JD-U’s Abhishek Kumar by 170 votes.

Though ABVP and Chhatra JD-U fought independently for all five central panel seats this time, the latter could not win any seat. Last time, JD-U had not contested any seat.

A significant aspect of the election was that it witnessed the lowest voter turnout in the last four elections at just 37.8%. Last year, it was also the lowest at 45.25%, but this time there was a further steep decline of around 8%, indicating growing disinterest among youth towards elections.

Magadh Mahila and BN College witnessed just 21% polling, while Patna Women’s College recorded the highest polling percentage at 53%, which is usually the case due to campus discipline. Patna Law College (50%), Patna Science College (46%) and Patna College (31%) followed.

Besides, 22 candidates won the seats of councillor for different faculties and colleges. Seven of them were elected unopposed as they were the sole candidates.

Purnea MP Pappu Yadav also congratulated NSUI for winning both the posts of president and general secretary. “This is a result of the efforts to get justice for the NEET aspirant girl, who died under mysterious circumstances,” he added.