The counting process for the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) election. that began at 10 pm on Friday had to be suspended after a group of students forcibly entered the counting venue and tried to snatch away ballot boxes.
The JNUSU election committee in a statement said: “EC 2018-19 hereby brings to the immediate notice of media friends that during the counting process, which had began yesterday (14th September 2018) at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcibly entering into the counting venue and attempt to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres. This was in addition to intimidation and violence on our Election Committee, including on our female members led by a Presidential and a Joint Secretary candidate.”
Although the election committee did not name the persons responsible for the violence, a section of students on the campus blamed it on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
However, the ABVP has accused the election committee members of being partisan and questioned their nod to start the counting of votes without the presence of their poll agent
There are eight candidates contesting for the post of president, and four each for the post of vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary. Last year, all the four posts went to the united Left panel. The last time a non-Left candidate was in the union was in 2015, when Saurabh Sharma from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held the post of joint secretary and Kanhaiya Kumar from the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) was the president.
