JNUSU elections: 67.8% voter turnout recorded

New Delhi, Sep 14: The voter turnout in the keenly contested Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election on Friday was 67.8 per cent, believed to be the highest in six years. Over 5,000 students cast their votes. The counting has begun and the results are expected to be announced on Sunday.

All arrangements were made by election authorities for the Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) polls, which are being closely watched in the aftermath of various controversies which rocked varsities 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 will be contesting for the post of vice-president, SFI's Aejaz Ahmad Rather will be contesting for the post of general secretary and AISF's Amutha Jayadeep will be 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) has fielded Vikas Yadav of the School of International Studies for the president's post. Lijy K Babu of the School of Life Sciences will be contesting for the post of vice-president.

Md Mofizul Alam will be contesting for the post of general secretary, while Ngurang Reena of the School of International Studies will be contesting for the post of joint secretary.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has 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 the joint secretary's post.

Besides routine campaigning, candidates in JNU are also supposed to participate in the presidential debate and answer questions that follow. The event, a sought-after affair, was held on Wednesday night on the lines of the US Presidential debate and will be a deciding factor for the union elections.

The DUSU poll results were announced on Thursday. The ABVP won three central panel posts while Congress's NSUI emerged victorious in one.