60 pc turnout in JNUSU polls

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) Sixty per cent voting was witnessed in the JNUSU polls today with Science schools registering polling as high as 90 per cent.

The polling, which passed off without incident, kicked off at 0930 hrs at all the centres, including School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, both the buildings of School of Social Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, and the School for International studies.

Though the polling officially came to an end at 1750 hrs, students, who had entered the polling centres before the stipulated time, were allowed to vote, who, in effect, exercised their franchise till 1815 hrs.

Separate booths were made for the BA-MA and MPHIL/PHD students.

Barring sporadic incidents of scuffles between the Students Federation of India and the ABVP, the polling remained peaceful.

The SFI vehemently objected to the presence of outsiders who were allegedly campaigning for the BJP-backed ABVP. With the timely intervention of the Election Commission (EC),the incident was prevented from blowing into free-for-all. The outsiders were later driven out from the venue.

The EC in the JNUSU elections is elected by the students themselves and the election is also conducted by them only.

This year saw one of the largest participation in recent times with as many as 12 battling it out for the post of president. The major contenders were -- Dhananjay Tripathi from the joint plank of the Students Federation of India, and the All India Students Federation, Awadhesh Tripathy, Ritupan Goswami, Amit Singh, represented the All India Students Association, the Democratic Students Union and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad respectively.

The new entrants this year include the students wing of Indian Justice Party, the Bahujan Samaj Front and the Youth For Equality.

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