The voting for the students’ union election took place on Friday at Jawaharlal Nehru University, following a Presidential Debate held late Wednesday night, after four years from the last students’ union election. Throughout the day, the campus resonated with the slogans ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram,’ echoing across the JNU campus. The delayed commencement of voting, two hours behind the scheduled time, highlights the mismanagement and inefficiency of the election committee. The biased conduct of the election committee throughout this entire election process indicates that wherever there is even a semblance of left-wing ideology exists, democracy is not secure. There is complete indication of biased actions and malpractice in the election, leading ABVP to demand the public disclosure of details regarding the number, source, and usage of ballot papers from the election committee. ABVP’s candidates for JNUSU elections, including presidential candidate Umesh Chandra Ajmeera, vice president Deepika Sharma, secretary Arjun Anand, and joint secretary Govind Dangi expressed their gratitude to JNU students for ensuring their participation in building a healthy democracy.
It is to be noted that during the JNUSU election process, biased and undemocratic conduct of the election committee and failure of administrative management have been observed. During the question-answer session of the presidential debate, ABVP’s presidential candidate Umesh Chandra Ajmeera referenced Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” This led to the JNUSU election committee prohibiting him from giving a speech without any basis or rule. This behavior indicates that this election committee was bent on undermining the democratic process of JNUSU elections by colluding with left-wing student organizations.
ABVP JNU unit Secretary, Vikas Patel, stated, “ABVP has always strived for a healthy and democratic students’ union. We have received full support from the students for the work done by ABVP over the past 5 years. We stand with JNU students in all circumstances, and the result of this will definitely be received on March 24. The entire election process has exposed the undemocratic and biased conduct of the election committee. This election committee has been evidently colluding with left student organizations to conduct the JNU election in a biased manner, undermining the democratic process of JNUSU elections.”