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Voting for the keenly contested Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election took place on Friday, amid the backdrop of several controversies that marred the prestigious educational institution in recent times.
About 70 per cent of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students cast their ballots on Friday to elect their candidates for four crucial posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary.
The first phase of polling began at 9.30 am and continued till 1.30 pm. In the second phase, the voting resume at 2.30 pm and went on till 5.30 pm.
All arrangements were made by the election authorities for the JNUSU polls, which were closely watched in the aftermath of various controversies that rocked the universities across the country in the recent past.
The Left-backed All India Students' Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students Federation (DSF) and All India Students Federation (AISF) have come together to form the United-Left alliance.
The alliance has fielded N Sai Balaji of the School of International Studies as its presidential candidate.
DSF's Sarika Chaudhary is contesting for the post of vice president, SFI's Aejaz Ahmad Rather is contesting for the post of general secretary and ASIF's Amutha Jayadeep is contesting for the joint secretary's position.
All three of them are from the School of Social Sciences.
The Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) fielded Vikas Yadav of the School of International Studies for the president's post. Lijy K Babu of the School of Life Sciences is contesting for the post of vice president.
Md Mofizul Alam is contesting for the post of secretary, while Ngurang Reena of the School of International Studies is contesting for the post of joint secretary.
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) fielded Lalit Pandey for the president's post, Geetashri Boruah for the vice-president's post, Ganesh Gurjar for the post of general secretary and Venkat Choubey for joint secretary's post.
Besides routine campaigning, the candidates in the JNUSU polls also participated in the presidential debate on Wednesday night and answered the questions that followed.
The sought-after event, on the lines of the US presidential debate, is expected to be a deciding factor in the polls.
