JNU students' union polls begin

The JNU students students' union election was held here Friday, with the option of None Of The Above (NOTA) being introduced for the first time.

The results of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) polls are expected to be announced Monday.

The polling started at 9.30 a.m. and will end at 5.30 p.m, with a lunch break in between.

Seven candidates are running for the post of president, five for vice president, and five each for general secretary and joint secretary.

JNU will use ballot papers, and this time students would also have the None of the Above (NOTA) option. For the first time, JNU introduced the other option in their nomination forms to accommodate the third gender.

JNU has always been the stronghold of left-wing student organisations. Last year, the AISA bagged all the four posts.

Other Left organisations in the fray are the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the newly formed Left Progressive Front (LPF), which is an alliance between the Democratic Students Federation, a breakaway group from the Students' Federation of India (SFI), and All India Students' Federation (AISF).

The NSUI and the ABVP have also fielded their candidates. The main poll issues in the JNU are women's safety, hostel accommodation and infrastructures such as WiFi connections and medical health centres for students.

The university's private guards will ensure a smooth election in the institute.

The campaigning at JNU ended Thursday and the presidential debate was held Wednesday.