SFI's Aishe Ghosh Wins JNU Student Union Presidential Election

After a gap of 13 years, Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) got its first Student Federation of India president in Aishe Ghosh. She won with 2,313 votes of the total vote count of 5,728 votes and with this she succeeded Geeta Kumari of All India Students' Association (AISA) who was the JNUSU president last year.

Ghosh's party SFI belongs to the left-leaning political ideology and incidentally, all four positions including president, vice-president, general secretary and joint-secretary have been won by left-unity with 50.15% votes in the campus. The parties comprising of left-front are SFI, Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the All India Students' Federation (AISF).

Key Takeaways:

• After a gap of 13 years, Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) got its first Student Federation of India president in Aishe Ghosh.
• Ghosh's party SFI belongs to the left-leaning political ideology and incidentally, all four positions including preside, vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary have been won by left-unity
• Ghosh is a resident of Durgapur, West Bengal. She did her under-graduation from Delhi University in political science before joining JNU to do a master's course in International Relations.
• Before becoming the president of JNUSU, she served as the councillor for School of International Studies twice in a row.

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RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came second in all posts. Ghosh defeated ABVP's Manish Jangid with 2,303 votes while Jangid got 1,128 votes. The results were announced after the Delhi High Court directed the election committee to do so. The court had restricted the varsity from notifying the results.

Ghosh is a resident of Durgapur, West Bengal. She did her under-graduation from Delhi University in political science before joining JNU to do a master's course in International Relation. She is currently in the second year of MPhil for the same course. Before becoming the president of JNUSU, she served as the councillor for School of International Studies twice in a row.

“We knew what the result was going to be, but the HC order reasserts our politics and the faith that students have in the Left. The declaration of this result is a win for students who voted for us…,” said Ghosh, IE reported.

She spoke to EdexLive and talked about the victory of the Left panel in JNUSU, “Ever since the BJP came to power, there has been an attack on education in JNU. The administration has been making policy decisions according to their own whims and fancies. So it was important for us to win these elections, especially because I'm also a woman, a research scholar and the rest of the elected panel also represent marginalised students on campus. As research scholars, we all know and represent all the things that are going wrong with our academics and campus. It is important for the left to get a hold in all other campuses in the country too.”

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"It was important for us to win these elections, especially because I'm also a woman, a research scholar and the rest of the elected panel also represent marginalised students on campus" - Aishe Ghosh

Now that she has become the president, the top-most issues to tackle in her agenda are to ensure that the Union isn't dissolved and that they continue their resistance against hostel shortage, seat cuts, fee hikes, library fund cut and reinstating Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).

The voting for all these positions of JNUSU was held on September 6 after which the counting of votes happened on September 7. While the results were to be announced by concerned authorities on September 8, it was delayed because of a Delhi High Court order following pleas by two students. One of the students alleged that his nomination for the post of councillor in the JNU students’ union was illegally rejected, the other sought that the elections be held in accordance with the LCR to maintain transparency and control excess expenditure.

Picture credit: Onmanorama