JNU: AISA wins polls, strong show by ABVP

The Leftist All India Students’ Association has swept all four seats in the Jawaharlal Nehru Student Union elections but saw a major cut in its vote share as the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad gained major ground in the left-dominated university.

The Leftist All India Students’ Association (AISA) has swept all four seats in the Jawaharlal Nehru Student Union (JNUSU) elections but saw a major cut in its vote share as the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad gained major ground in the left-dominated university.

The results of the polls were declared on Sunday where ABVP came in a close second in two of the four seats as it managed to double its vote share by eating into AISA’s votes. ABVP’ membership in JNU has also gone up.

Ashutosh Kumar, newly-elected president from AISA, got 1,386 votes and won by a margin of just 377 votes. For the posts of vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary, the party got 1,366, 1,605 and 1,209 votes respectively.

In spite of AISA’s sweep, the ABVP was able to grab 12 of 31 councillor seats while AISA, which had won 16 councillor seats last year, managed to only bag six.

Many students believe ABVP’s focus on the needs of students had a big role to play in their noticeably better performance, though the pro-BJP wave in the country probably played its part too.