National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) President Jatinder Singh has won the Chandigarh-based Panjab University (PU) Students Union elections. Singh defeated the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti’s (CYSS) candidate with a margin of 603 votes. The CYSS is the student body of the Aam Aadmi Party—the union’s candidate had won last year’s elections with over 600 votes.
According to political experts, the victory of an NSUI President after six years might be a direct result of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. The effect of these university election results will also be seen in the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Haryana. The elections hold great significance in the state and are inversely affected by state politics as well.
This effect was seen in full during the Panjab University’s elections last year. The student body elections were held after the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab and the CYSS’ candidate emerged victorious, successfully snagging the top post in the student union.
However, despite a resounding victory, the CYSS candidate lost with the same margin of votes that had propelled them to the top only last year. The main reason for this is said to be their “VIP culture” Party MLAs and ministers had at the time made repeated visits to the Panjab University campus for student union’s programs. All the other student parties had opposed this as well. It is believed that being upset with this culture, the students voted against the CYSS this time.
Two days prior to the elections, some CYSS students alleged that they had been assaulted by PUSU student union president candidate Devendra Pal. During this fight, one of the CYSS members said his turban had fallen from his head. All student organisations protested as a united front against this incident. Its effect has also gone against CYSS. NSUI candidate Jatinder Singh was a student leader of ABVP before these elections. He had been working for ABVP for a long time and had gained a good reputation in the organisation. However, due to the expectation of not being declared the main candidate in the student union elections, he joined NSUI a few days before the elections. Because of this, those who were his supporters in ABVP, he has also got the benefit of their votes.
