After JNU row, ABVP loses Varanasi university students' union polls
Amid debates over the alleged involvement of RSS’s students’ outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Sunday’s violence at JNU, the students’ body has lost all the four seats in the students’ union elections at Sampurnanand Sankrit Vishwavidyalaya in Varanasi, to Congress’ National Students Union of India (NSUI).
Amid debates over the alleged involvement of RSS’s students’ outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Sunday’s violence at JNU, the students’ body has lost all the four seats in the students’ union elections at Sampurnanand Sankrit Vishwavidyalaya in Varanasi, to Congress’ National Students Union of India (NSUI).
ABVP’s defeat comes as a surprise especially when Varanasi, a stronghold of the BJP and the RSS is also the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The students’ body had won all the four seats of the varsity’s central panel, and 13 other posts of representatives in the students’ union election in 2018.
According to reports, NSUI’s Shivam Shukla defeated ABVP’s Harshit Pandey to win the president’s seat. Chandan Kumar Mishra won as vice president while Avnish Pandey and Rajnikant Dubey won the seats for the secretary and librarian respectively. While Shukla won 709 votes, his rival Pandey could win only 224 votes. Chandan Kumar Mishra secured 553 votes. While Avnish Pandey secured 487 votes for the post of general secretary, ABVP’s Gaurav Dubey got only 424 votes. Rajnikant Dubey secured 567 votes for the post of librarian against 482 won by his opponent Ajay Kumar Mishra.
Announcing its triumph over ABVP on Twitter on Wednesday, NSUI said it was an indication of the students’ rejection of “fascist forces”.
NSUI won the Students Union Election on all seats in PM Modi’s Constituency, Varanasi in Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. Students of world’s oldest cultural city are smart enough to reject the fascist forces.#NSUISweepsBanaras pic.twitter.com/9rbujWQVxr
— NSUI (@nsui) January 8, 2020
The office bearers were administered the oath of office in Sanskrit by university Vice Chancellor Prof Rajaram Shukla.
It was reported that the winning candidates were given police custody back home.
The win of NSUI is crucial, especially at a time when the ABVP is facing backlash for allegedly orchestrating the attack on students and faculty members at JNU, which left almost 35 injured.