The united front of left student organisations swept the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) polls, with Aishe Ghosh being elected president. The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came second on the posts of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary. The Congress-affiliated National Student's Union of India (NSUI) fielded candidate only for the post of president.
The 'united left' alliance comprising the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the All India Students' Federation (AISF) was formed before the 2018 students' union polls, and it has repeated its last year performance this time by winning all the central posts.
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Slogans of 'Lal Salaam' and 'Inquilab Zindabad' rent the air as the results were declared and the united front took out a victory March from the Ganga Dhaba, where members of the left bodies were seen playing dhaflis.
The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) had fielded candidates for the president and general secretary posts, and stood third. Its presidential candidate Jitendra Suna got 1,121 votes and Waseem R.S., their general secretary candidate, received 1,232 votes.
The left grouping's presidential candidate and SFI member Aishe Ghosh defeated Manish Jangid of the ABVP by bagging 2,313 votes. Jangid got 1,128 votes. DSF's Saket Moon was elected JNUSU vice president and he bagged 3,365 votes. He defeated ABVP's Shruti Agnihotri by 2,030 votes in the polls that saw a 67.9 per cent turnout.
The BAPSA and NSUI saw moral victories in their increased vote share. The left unity and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also saw an increase in their vote share this time. The All India Students' Association (AISA), Students' Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students' Federation (DSF) and All India Students' Federation (AISF) saw their vote share increasing to 50.15 per cent. However, its vote share on the president's post saw a marginal decline to 40.38 per cent from last year's figure of 41.67 per cent.
The ABVP saw its vote share increase from close to 20 per cent last year to 23.23 per cent this year. Last year, the party's presidential candidate had a vote share of around 18 per cent but this year it increased to 20 per cent.
The NSUI said it has seen a "massive" increase in its vote share in JNUSU polls from 2017 when its presidential candidate got a meagre 82 votes to 2019 when their candidate has secured 771 votes.
Over 5,700 students cast their votes and the turnout is being billed as the highest in seven years.
The Chhatra RJD's presidential candidate Priyanka Bharti got 156 votes, while Raghavendra Mishra, an independent candidate, polled 53 votes. Mishra is also known as 'Yogi of JNU' as he wears saffron robes like that of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.