Has Gehlot erred in banning students' body polls ahead in Rajasthan?

New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot may have politically and strategically committed a blunder by not allowing universities across the state to hold the students' body polls ahead of the forthcoming Legislative Assembly polls in the state. 

The order by the Congress government hasn't gone down well with the students’ community which is up in arms against the grand old party for denying them their democratic rights.

Sources stated that Gehlot decided not to hold university students' body polls this academic year as any loss to the National Students Union of India, the youth wing of Congress, may be construed as a defeat of the grand old party ahead of the crucial state polls.

University polls are considered to be stepping stones to state-level and later national-level political aspirations. Any ban on these may be considered as an attack on the rights of the youth as student leaders preparing for these university polls would lose at least one year of their political lives.

Youth leaders from the respective youth wings of the political outfits play a crucial role in canvassing and creating an atmosphere for the parent bodies in the Assembly polls. There is widespread participation by these students’ leaders who have future political aspirations and the ban on university elections by the Congress may turn out to be political suicide for Gehlot, sources said.

The ban on students’ body polls is being vehemently opposed equally by ideological and political opponents including the NSUI and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The ban has been invoked as the Congress doesn’t want a tricky situation where the NSUI is defeated before the Assembly elections later this year and creates a negative narrative for it. 

However, this has created problems as student leaders, including those affiliated with the grand old party, have also opened a front against the Ashok Gehlot government. They have warned that if the government does not reconsider its decision, there will be fierce agitation.

The Rajasthan government on August 12 issued an order saying student union elections won’t be held in the current academic year. The announcement led to impromptu dharnas from students across universities in the state.

There is widespread resentment against Gehlot in the students’ community and protests against the ban are expected to intensify in the weeks leading up to the Assembly polls.

BJP painting the poll ban as anti-youth

Though the Congress is targeting an unprecedented second successive term in the state and has given a completely free hand to Gehlot for finalising election strategy and candidates for the 200-member Assembly polls, the ban on the students’ body polls is likely to backfire.

The BJP leadership has lost no time in reaching out to the youth in the state and is trying to send the message that their democratic rights are being trampled upon. 

As university and first-time voters make up almost 10 per cent of the electorate in most assembly constituencies, the BJP is expected to make this a state-wide issue to target Gehlot.  

Rajasthan is a critical state for both the BJP and Congress and the two are in direct contest for the important state ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls.  

The BJP- Rashtriya Loktantrik Party alliance secured all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan in 2019. This completely reversed the Assembly polls outcome of 2018 where the BJP was only able to secure 75 seats in the 200 members Assembly. 

The BJP had also successfully secured all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the border state in the 2014 general elections, a record that the saffron unit wants to repeat in 2024.