RUSU elections: NSUI to discuss poll drubbing

RANCHI: Congress affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) will hold a meeting to discuss the poll drubbing in recently held college-level Ranchi University students’ union elections, where it could manage a single victory. The elections were held for 80 office-bearers in 16 designated units of the university.

In the recent elections, 367 candidates contested for ‘direct elections’ to five posts in each unit. The 16 units comprised 14 constituent colleges, one BED college besides the 22 post-graduate departments, which were clubbed as a single unit.

RSS-affiliated ABVP emerged as winner with 41 seats, followed by Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS) at 24 and All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) with 10 seats. The 80 winners across all units will contest the indirect elections for five office-bearer posts at university level on December 13. NSUI’s performance was even worse than independent candidates, who secured two seats.

RSS-AFFILIATED ABVP EMERGED AS WINNER WITH 41 SEATS, FOLLOWED BY ADIVASI CHHATRA SANGH (ACS) AT 24 AND ALL J’KHAND STUDENTS’ UNION (AJSU) WITH 10 SEATS

However, Abhinav Bhagat, NSUI state spokesperson and part of the election management committee for students’ union elections, said that it was not a loss as the NSUI supported students were at second position in more than 20 places. He said that the union performed better than its complete wipeout in 2016 RUSU elections.

“We would hold a meeting after December 13 to analyse the reasons for the defeat,” said Bhagat.

Bhagat claimed that the ruling parties had tried to indirectly influence voters. He cited the example of Mayor Asha Lakra who had gone to vote in the elections despite her name was missing in the voters’ list. “If she wanted to vote, she could have come as a student, rather than with her bodyguards and cavalcade,” Bhagat said.

He said that display of power in students’ union election resulted in low voter turnout. “The focus shifted to politics rather than student-related issues. So, majority of students stayed away from the elections, and a low voter turnout of around 20 per cent was recorded,” Bhagat said. He said that some political parties had campaigned and targeted hostels, which voted en masse.

He also said that an officebearer of the ruling party was reportedly present in Marwari College during the counting procedure. This had resulted in the counting process being stopped twice for 30 minutes. He said there was a possibility tampering with the counting process as well.

Bhagat said that issues pertaining to students took a back seat after the results were declared. He said that BJP’s state spokesperson had accused NSUI of trying to liaison with the winners to influence the upcoming university polls.