AISA sweeps JNU election, ABVP gains

The Left-leaning All India Students Association (AISA) Sunday swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) elections for a second consecutive year.

The AISA, affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, won the posts of president, vice president, general secretary as well as joint secretary.

In a campus dominated by Left politics, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, came second for the posts of vice president and general secretary.

AISA's Ashutosh Kumar was elected the president with 1,386 votes. He defeated Rahila Perween of the Left Progressive Front (LPF) who secured 1,009 votes.

The LPF is a new alliance between the Democratic Students Federation (DSF), the breakaway wing of the Students Federation of India (SFI), and the All India Students Federation (AISF) of the CPI.

Sourabh Kumar of the ABVP came third in the presidential race.

Anant Prakash Narayan won the post of vice president with 1,366 votes, defeating Md Jahidul Dewan of ABVP (756). The third position went to Heena Goswami of the National Students Union of India, the student wing of the Congress.

Chintu Kumari became the general secretary with 1,605 votes. ABVP's Ashish Kumar Dhanotiya got 791 votes and SFI's Najeeb V.R. finished third.

The once influential SFI, affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, has been weakened in recent years ever since it suffered a split in the JNU.

For the post of joint secretary, Shafqat Hussain Butt got 1,209 votes followed by LPF's Mulayam Singh (969) while ABVP's Gopal Lal Meena came third.

Last year too, AISA won all four top posts, winning three with huge margins and one narrowly. It won three posts in 2012.

The AISA has also done well in the just ended Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections although it failed to win any of the top posts. The DUSU elections were swept by the ABVP.