Dalit president in 30 years, BAPSA’s win; JNUSU poll result 2024 witness many firsts

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) election results 2024 were declared late night on Sunday and the United Left alliance emerged victorious by winning three seats of the central panel. The JNUSU polls that took place after a hiatus of four years saw many firsts including the historic win of Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA).

Dhananjay from the All India Students' Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president's post by securing 2,598 votes against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) Umesh C Ajmeera, who got 1,676 votes. Dhananjay is the first Dalit president to be elected in JNUSU election 2024 after 30 years.

For the first time in its history, BAPSA's general secretary candidate, Priyanshi Arya, won the seat with the support from the Left. BAPSA won its first seat in the central panel by defeating ABVP's Arjun Anand by 926 votes.

BAPSA is an Ambedkarite students' organisation formed on November 15, 2014. Since the inception of JNUSU elections, BAPSA has never been able to secure a position in the central panel of JNUSU, however, it has been consistently winning counsellor posts. It has always been the third-highest students’ union after United Left Alliance and ABVP.

In a sudden turn of events, the election committee cancelled the nomination of Swati Singh who was running for general secretary post from DSF. After the nomination was revoked, Left and other students unions extended their support to the BAPSA candidate.

“This last-minute shift saw Priyanshi Arya secure victory with an overwhelming support from the alliance. However, following the elections, BAPSA opted to distance itself from the alliance, expressing its intention to contest future elections independently,” the PTI reported.

The last JNUSU polls held in 2019 were swept by Left-backed groups which comprised AISA, SFI, DFS, and AISF.

JNUSU election results 2024

The JNUSU central panel comprises the president, vice president, secretary, and joint secretary posts. Take a look at how many votes each student group nominees received.

President

Abhijeet Kumar (INDP)- 58

Afroz Alam (CRJD)- 36

Aradhana Yadav (SCS)- 245

Biswajit Minji (BAPSA)- 398

Dhananjay ( AISA- United Left)- 2,598

Junaid Raza (NSUI)- 383

Sarthak Nayak (DISHA)- 113

Umesh Chandra Ajmeera (ABVP)- 1,676

NOTA - 148

Blank : 32

Invalid: 7

The United Left won by 922 votes.

Vice President

Ankur Rai (INDP)- 814

Avijit Ghosh ( SFI - United Left)-2,409

Deepika Sharma (ABVP)- 1,482

Mohamed Anas (BAPSA)- 611

NOTA - 227

Blank : 69

Invalid: 44

The United Left won by 927 votes.

General Secretary

Arjun Anand (ABVP) - 1,961

Fareen Zaidi (NSUI) - 436

Priyanshi Arya (BAPSA, United Left Supported) - 2,887

NOTA - 197

Blank : 85

Invalid: 90

The United Left supported BAPSA candidate won by 926 votes.

Joint Secretary

Govind Dangi (ABVP) - 2,066

Mo Sajid ( AISF - United Left) - 2,574

Rupak Kumar Singh (BAPSA) - 539

NOTA - 353

Blank : 83

Invalid: 41

The United Left won by 508 votes.