JNUSU elections today; Left alliance lock horns against ABVP, NSUI

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will be having students' union polls on Friday where eight candidates will be against each other. 

The Congress backed-National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has nominated Vikas Yadav for the president's post while the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has fielded Lalit Pandey for the same. Yadav is from the School f International Studies. 

For NSUI, Md Mofizul Alam will be contesting for the post of secretary, while Ngurang Reena of the School of International Studies will be contesting for the post of joint secretary. Lijy K Babu of the School of Life Sciences will be contesting for the post of vice president.

For ABVP, Geetashri Boruah stands for the vice-president's post, Ganesh Gurjar for the post of general secretary and Venkat Choubey for joint secretary's post.

The United-Left alliance will have the Left-backed All India Students' Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students Federation (DSF) and All India Students Federation (AISF) coming together for the grand alliance. 

The presidential candidate from the alliance's side is N Sai Balaji of the School of International Studies. 

DSF's Sarika Chaudhary will be contesting for the post of vice president, SFI's Aejaz Ahmad Rather will be contesting for the post of general secretary and ASIF's Amutha Jayadeep will be contesting for the joint secretary's position.

All three of them are from the School of Social Sciences.

All arrangements have been made by the election authorities for the Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) polls, which are being closely watched in the aftermath of various controversies which rocked varsities across the country in the recent past.

Besides the routine campaigning, the candidates in JNU are also supposed to participate in the presidential debate and answer questions that follow.

The event, a sought-after affair, was held on Wednesday night on the lines of the US Presidential debate and will be a deciding factor for the union elections. 

Meanwhile, Delhi University concluded the election process on Thursday. The RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won top three posts - president, vice president and joint secretary - while Congress' student wing NSUI bagged the post of secretary.

(With PTI Inputs)