JNUSU polls result: NOTA gets more than double of NSUI votes

Compared to 728 votes, that the four candidates of NSUI bagged, NOTA was chosen by 1,512 — more than double the number of students. Congress-backed student outfit’s presidential candidate — Vrishinika — got only 82 votes of the total 4,369 polled.

NOTA (None of the above) got more votes than the National Students Union of India in the JNUSU polls. Though the Congress-backed student outfit was never a major player in JNU politics, it‘s presidential candidate — Vrishinika got only 82 votes of the total 4,369 polled.

United Left won all four seats in the JNU students union (JNUSU) elections, results of which were announced on early Sunday morning. The RSS-backed ABVP was the runners up on all four seats while candidates of BAPSA stood third.(Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

Compared to 728 votes, that the four candidates of NSUI bagged, NOTA was chosen by 1,512 — more than double the number of students.

Candidate-wise, NSUI’s presidential candidate got 82 while there were 127 NOTA. For the post of vice-president, Francis Lalremsiama got 201 compared to 495 NOTA. For general secretary, Preeti Dhruve got 223 votes while 389 students opted for NOTA and joint secretary aspirant Alimuddin got just 222 votes against NOTA tally of 501.

Just short of admitting a humiliating defeat, party insiders say JNU has been a Left bastion and the NSUI was concentrating its energies on DU students union polls, where it is a major player.

However, some feel that the ‘national vs anti-national’ debate that erupted after the arrest of student leader Kanhaiya Kumar polarised the campus between Left and ABVP, and the NSUI failed to present an alternative narrative.

Ruchi Gupta, the national in-charge of NSUI, said, “Though JNU has always been a Left stronghold, we could have fared better. Elections in JNU are just decided by local issues but what’s happening in the country. After the Kanhaiya Kumar episode and Ramjas controversy , there has been polarisation and the anti-ABVP space was completely acquired by the united Left,” she said.

“The NSUI needs to be more active throughout the year and strengthen its presence in the governing of university matters to emerge as a credible alternative,” she said.

Other NSUI leaders and party functionaries also said that the vote share could have been better and they were expecting that the outfit will score at least better than NOTA.

NSUI national president Fairoz Khan said, “We should have worked harder by taking up the issues of the students such as water, hostel facilities, better modes of transport, etc. We certainly couldn’t convince students that we are a strong alternative.”

The Congress, however, said that the JNU result will have no bearing on the upcoming Delhi University elections.

Senior Delhi Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee said, “ In 2015, AAP won 67 of the 70 seats in Delhi assembly but its students body ranked fourth in DUSU elections, so we should not assume that NSUI’s non-performance in JNU will make a difference elsewhere.”