Voting underway for JNUSU elections; final results on November 6

New Delhi: Voting underway for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) elections on Tuesday, as students cast their ballots to elect a new central panel and councillors for schools on the campus.

Polling began at 9 am and will continue till 5.30 pm, with a break from 1 pm to 2.30 pm.

Counting will begin at 9 pm, and the final results will be declared on November 6, according to the election committee.

Twenty candidates are in the fray for the four key posts in the central panel — president, vice-president, general secretary, and joint secretary.

The elections, often seen as a microcosm of national ideological currents, have once again turned the spotlight on the contest between the Left Unity and the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The Left Unity, comprising the All India Students' Association (AISA), Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), has fielded Aditi Mishra for president, Kizhakoot Gopika Babu for vice-president, Sunil Yadav for general secretary, and Danish Ali for joint secretary.

The ABVP's panel features Vikas Patel, Tanya Kumari, Rajeshwar Kant Dubey, and Anuj, in the same order.

The group has campaigned on the theme of 'performance and nationalism,' while the Left bloc has emphasised inclusion, accessibility, and student welfare.

Around 9,043 students are eligible to vote this year, the election committee said.

About 30 per cent of the nominations for the central panel and 25 per cent for school councillor posts are from women candidates.

Last year, AISA's Nitish Kumar won the president's post, while ABVP's Vaibhav Meena secured the joint secretary position — ending a decade-long drought for the right-wing group and marking a "historic shift" in JNU's campus politics.

In the morning, long queues formed outside booths with students enthusiastically casting their votes.