After winning Delhi University Students Union Election and Hyderabad Central University Election, the RSS- backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has emerged victorious in Ranchi University Students’ Union Election as well. ABVP won all the major seats winning President, Vice President, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Joint Secretary posts.
This was the fourth time that student union elections were being held at Ranchi University since its inception in 1960. The first union election was organized in 1987; second in 2007 and the last was in 2016, said vice-chancellor Ramesh Pandey.
University elections were held on December 13 wherein 80 representatives had to choose five office bearers of Ranchi University Students Union body. In what turned out to be a one-sided election, ABVP emerged as an undisputed leader.
In conversation with Telegraph, Tanuj Khatri former President of Ranchi University students union who went to the polling booth to look after the situation said that the elections were one-sided and ABVP comfortably registered a victory on all the five seats. Khatri further added, “As Adivasi Chhatra Sangh and Ajsu boycotted the election anticipating their impending defeat, all seats as expected were won by ABVP members.”
Adding to his statement he said that Adivasi Chhatra Sangh and AJSU protested in front of the counting booth at the department of basic sciences as they alleged ABVP workers of abducting their four volunteers from B.S. College, Lohardaga.
“However, their allegation was proved wrong when police showed the video issued by them saying they were not interested in taking part in the election because Adivasi Chhatra Sangh and Ajsu had struck an alliance without taking them into confidence,” Khatri added
While sharing the results, Ranchi University spokesperson Prakash Jha said, “The winners are Neha Mardi (president), Kunal Kumar Sharma (vice-president), Saurabh Bose (secretary), Anit Ranjan (deputy secretary) and Saurabh Kumar (joint secretary). Officially, we can’t divulge their political affiliation, but unofficially we have come to know that they belong to ABVP.”
Atal Pandey, National Executive member confirmed the victory as he said, “You are right. All the winners are from our organization. We registered victory over divisive forces that created differences among students in the name of caste and region. We have given the student union its first girl president (Neha Mardi).”
In the month of September, ABVP won three out of seven universities’ union election in Rajasthan followed by Delhi University Students’ Union Election (DUSU) where it won three out of four seats. Then in the month of October, ABVP whitewashed Left groups, sweeping all the six core union posts in Hyderabad Central University. Moreover, in Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union election (JNUSU), the organization emerged as the single largest party.
These trends are suggestive of the fact that students’ fraternity has huge faith in ABVP and it believes that ABVP raises voice for students’ rights. With the motto of ‘Character, Knowledge, and Unity’, ABVP has been able to create space between students and have become their first choice. Apart from contesting elections, ABVP through its various forums such as Think India, World Organization of Students and Youth (WOSY), Student for Development (SFD), Jignasa, Medevision, Rashtriya Kala Manch and Student Experience Interstate Living (SEIL) have been able to get in touch with the student fraternity.