Voting at JNUSU and DUSU concludes; here are the highlights from poll-day

Voting at JNU concluded at 5.30 pm on Friday. Counting of the votes will begin at 11 pm and continue till the wee hours. 

Meanwhile at DU, the second phase of polling started at 3 pm for the evening colleges and will continue till 7pm.

#JNUSU2016 trends on Twitter. Candidates and supporters are making the best use of social media to reach out to their voters. Both JNU and DU polls are much like a state's assembly election given the strategising, hard work and money that goes into conducting them.

The candidates are well aware of ground realities of their respective universities, have a clear idea about their organisation's ideology, are affable, and their eyes are firmly set on the president's post. From ABVP's Ojha to Swaraj Abhiyan's Kumar, one cannot miss the mannerisms of a seasoned politico in any of the candidates, correctly proving JNU to be the cradle of national politics.

 

Following the February 9 incident, JNU students are showing a keener and renewed interest in the polls. "Students' elections have always been the most important activity in the campus but after the events that followed February 9, even those who stay away from politics are coming forward to voice their opinion and cast their vote," says Pritika, an M.Phil student.

The second phase of polling to start at 2:30 pm and will continue till 5:30 pm.

Hectic activity continues on campus as students cheer their candidates, boost morale with dollops of music, jumlas, humour and wry wit reserved for their opponents. 

Congress leader Ashok Tanwar and BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain rally support behind NSUI and ABVP candidates respectively on social media. Make an appeal to students and share pictures from the campus.

#DUSU & #jnusu2016  @nsui #VoteNSUI5232 pic.twitter.com/wftG1ViF4j

— Ashok Tanwar (@AshokTanwar_INC) September 9, 2016

I appeal to the students of JNU to support nationalists by voting for ABVP candidates in #JNUSU @ABVPVoice pic.twitter.com/OwEOsLioPK

— Shahnawaz Hussain (@ShahnawazBJP) September 8, 2016

The mood is upbeat, frenzy of activity as large number of students queue up to cast their vote in JNU. The campus, however, is evidently divided into ‘national’ and ‘anti-national’. The February 9 controversy seems to have left an indelible mark on the university and widened the ideological schism between students.

While AISF is not contesting the polls this time, Kanhaiya Kumar, JNUSU president from the party last year, is still part of a large number of conversations.

Twitter and WhatsApp are the two main sources being used by supporters to garner votes for their candidates. Twitter is abuzz with promotional tweets, egging students to vote for their party, while group messages are being forwarded on WhatsApp.

Only NSUI can give you a better academic environment. Vote responsibly this DUSU, vote wisely. #VoteNSUI5232

— NSUI (@nsui) September 9, 2016

ABVP Presidential Candidate Janhawi speaks in #jnusu2016 Elections Presidential Debate#MyVote4ABVP https://t.co/fWOqffUqD4

— KV (Kunal Vimal) (@kvQuote) September 9, 2016

JNUSU polls are a sharp contrast to student polls of neighbouring Panjab University, which elected its students’ union on Wednesday. 

While JNU is all about national politics, ideologies that swing between right, left-wing and everything in between, PU polls are more of a show of martial strength and valour, money, big cars, marred by occasional violence, and zero talks on ideology. The campus turns into a fortress a fortnight before the elections, with strict security measures in places as weapons, including pistols, guns, swords, are common and routinely sneaked inside PU hostels, compared to JNU where such things are unheard of!

In another departure from JNU where these undertones could be found only remotely, regional and casteist leanings are very strong in PU, one of the main reasons why national parties like ABVP and NSUI have not been able to make it on their own. Like previous years, students have thrown their weight behind Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU), as their candidates did a clean sweep this year.

The candidates in fray at JNU are - 

JANHAWI OJHA of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)

SUNNY DHIMAN of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI)

MOHIT K PANDEY of All India Students’ Association-Students’ Federation of India (AISA-SFI) Panel

SONPIMPLE RAHUL PUNARAM of Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA)

DILEEP KUMAR of Students’ Front for Swaraj (SFS)

In JNU, 18 candidates are contesting the polls where over 8,600 voters will cast their vote. Unlike DU, where 300 EVMs will be used for the elections, JNU will vote through ballot papers.

The None of the Above (NOTA) option, which has been available to JNU voters for the last few years, has been introduced by DU for the first time. 

After the university was rocked by the Kanhaiya Kumar controversy that led to JNU being termed as anti-India and seditious, ABVP is clearly rooting for reviving and establishing nationalism in the varsity as is evident from the mood of party members and their campaign on social media.

JNU voting underway right now.

JNU students guilty of violating varsity norms in connection with the controversial February 9 incident were on Thursday granted permission by the varsity to cast vote in the student union polls.

The names of the 21 students, who have been imposed varied penalty for their alleged role in the sedition row, were earlier dropped from the voter list for the JNUSU polls with the administration claiming that they need to pay their fine in order to be eligible to cast their franchise. However, with the Delhi High Court ordering a stay on the punishments, the varsity has included their name in the list.

At DU, the 2015  polls were swept by ABVP which trounced NSUI and AAP's Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) to bag all the four positions. The AAP's student wing is not contesting the polls this year.

At JNU, for the first time, AISA, the student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), and SFI of CPI-M have formed an alliance for JNUSU polls, naming it "Left Unity". Students Front for Swaraj (SFS), the student wing of AAP's breakaway group Swaraj Abhiyan, is making its debut this year by fielding its candidates for the four crucial central panel posts in JNU.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election today, voting underway. pic.twitter.com/iIgVWNJK5j

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 9, 2016

At DU,  the timings for voting for students of the morning colleges will be from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm, while the students of evening colleges will cast their votes between 3 pm to 7 pm.

Voting will start by 9:45 am at JNU and will go on till 5 pm. Results are expected on Monday morning, September 12.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the debate that began on Thursday night went on for around five hours, with each candidate given 12 minutes to speak, followed by a second round in which the contesting candidates could ask each other two questions. Later, the floor was opened to the audience for putting their questions to the candidates.

During the debate, the new alliance of AISA-SFI was attacked by other parties as the recently-turned-friends were earlier rivals and openly disagreed on many issues. AISA also came under severe criticism on its stand on gender justice as one of its members has been charged with allegedly raping a fellow student a few weeks ago. 

BAPSA candidate, who highlighted the plight of minorities on and off campus in the light of the recent Una incident, was questioned by its rivals for not supporting the union during the protests that followed the February 9 incident, while ABVP was criticised for saffornisation of the campus and called fascist.

At JNU, candidates who will test their fate in today's election:

Rahul Sonpimple (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association )

Mohit Pandey (AISA-SFI)

Sunny Dhiman (National Students' Union of India)

Janhawi Ojha (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad)

Dileep Kumar (Swaraj Abhiyan)