Pro-Left student groups retain control in JU

ABVP finishes 2nd in Engineering faculty

Kolkata, 20/02/2020: Students celebrate the victory of DSF , Democratic Students Front candidates, as it maintained the legacy of four decades of winning All Posts of Engineering Departments of Jadavpur University in Students Unions Election in Kolkata on Thursday, February 20, 2020. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also participated for the first time and contested on 13 seats, fieldied more candidates than the Students' Federation of India (SFI). After violence on campuses across the state during student polls in 2017, the education department banned student unions and proposed apolitical student councils instead. But after three years of protests by students, Student union elections have been reinstated. Photo by: Rajeev Bhatt/ The Hindu

Left-affiliated and independent students’ groups bagged all seats in all faculties in the Jadavpur University (JU) students’ body polls, the results of which were announced on Thursday.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) made a mark finishing second in the Engineering faculty, ahead of the SFI. The Democratic Students’ Federation emerged as the winner. The ABVP contested the polls for the first time in the main panels of JU, known to be a Left bastion. The university’s students’ polls were conducted on Wednesday, after a gap of three years.

In the Arts faculty, the SFI comfortably won all three positions — chairperson, general secretary, assistant general secretary. The poll for the class representative in Arts delivered mixed results, with the SFI and the Democratic Students’ Association — a Left-leaning students’ body — sharing the honours. We The Independent (WTI), which is not affiliated to any party, won in the Science faculty, while the SFI came second.

The Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad came fourth. It performed very poorly in nearly all panels, all faculties.