The Hindu : Front Page : AISA bags all four central posts in JNU polls

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Monday, Nov 05, 2007
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AISA bags all four central posts in JNU polls

Staff Reporter

It is a major setback for the SFI-AISF combine as it finds no place in the central panel

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

They made history: The winning team of AISA – (from right) Sandeep Singh, president; Shephalika Shekhar, vice-president; Pallavi Deka, general secretary and Mobeen Alam, joint secretary -- after the results were declared at JNU on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: It was “lal salaam” across the sprawling campus on Sunday as for the first time in the history of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union polls, the All-India Students’ Association bagged all the four posts in the central panel.

This is the only occasion since 1989 that not a single candidate of the Students’ Federation of India-All India Students’ Federation combine found a place in the central panel. The Youth for Equality (YFE), which made its debut in JNU last year, managed to give a tough fight to the Left-backed parties. It stood second for the posts of president and general secretary, pushing the SFI-AISF to the third spot.

The outgoing students union’s general secretary Sandeep Singh secured 1,218 votes to be comfortably elected president. Babita Sharma of the YFE polled 924 votes followed by outgoing president Dhananjay Tripathi of the SFI-AISF who got 869 votes.

For the vice-president’s post, AISA’s Shephalika Shekhar emerged victorious with 1,077 votes. She beat SFI-AISF’s Roshan Kishore and YFE’s Sujeet Kumar by a margin of 302 and 313 votes respectively.

Pallavi Deka of the AISA won the post of general secretary with 1,029 votes. Swasti Rao of the YFE gave her a tough fight polling 927 votes. Fauzan Abrar of the SFI-AISF stood third with 779 votes.

There was a neck-and-neck race between Md. Mobeen Alam of the AISA and Sejuti Dasgupta of the SFI-AISF till the very end with the latter falling short by 38 votes. Mobeen secured 933 votes against 895 by Sejuti. Kumar Abhijeet of the YFE was not too far behind with 870 votes.

Speaking after the historic victory, Sandeep Singh said: “It is a mandate for the rights of students and workers. A mandate against the casteist forces, against land grabbing in the name of special economic zones, against displacement in the name of development, against draconian laws of the country, against the Indo-US nuclear deal and the United Progressive Alliance Government.”

“We will stand for the education and employment for all. We will demand expansion of health, library and hostel facilities for students, ensure that the University Grants Commission fellowships are implemented from April 2005. There should be implementation of 3 per cent reservation in teaching and non-teaching staff for the physically challenged students. In choosing the radical Left, the student community has sent out a clear message that they see the AISA as a source of inspiration which will work for them,” said the new president.

The results for the central panel were declared early Sunday morning following which the AISA winning team and their supporters carried out a victory procession on the campus.

Shouting slogans and waving red flags, the supporters went to each hostel on the campus and the students’ union office before halting near the “Ganga dhaba”. Commenting on its defeat, SFI Delhi State vice-president Rohit said: “We accept the mandate. There could be problems with our approach. We will introspect on what went wrong.”

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