PU Campus Students’ Council: 8 old warhorses scripted CYSS historic win

Deepankar Sharda

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Chandigarh, October 19

Eight old warhorses, who had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) students’ wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), guided the party to win the presidential post of the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC).

Sanjeev Chaudhary, Sumit Ruhal, Paras Rattan, Navaldeep, Vinod Dahiya, Nishant Kaushal, Amit Dhanda and Ravinder Gill, who were once part of other students’ political groups, had decided to come under one roof for this election.

While the CYSS was making a debut in these elections, they needed a strong base to take on the traditional parties. This base was developed by these eight experienced individuals, who had played an important role in the PU students’ politics.

Know The kingmakers

Sanjeev Chaudhary

Ex-chairman and election in-charge of ABVP (2019)

Sumit Ruhal

Former presdent, National Students’ Organisation (NSO)

Paras Rattan

Ex-campus president of ABVP, its 2019 presidential candidate

Navaldeep

Former president, Panjab University Students’ Union

Vinod Dahiya

Former president, NSUI

Nishant Kaushal

President of PUCSC in 2016

Amit Dhanda

Founder, NSO

Ravinder Gill

Former president, Student Federation of Panjab University

For instance, Paras Rattan, former campus president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and its 2019 presidential candidate, had joined AAP recently and has a stronghold in one of the main departments of the campus, the Department of Laws.

“The experience in the PU students’ politics helped us a lot. We eight acted as a team and knew about our areas of expertise. I am a former student of the law department and knew how to manage votes. Our statistics worked and we were able to get a good share of votes from this department,” said Rattan. The CYSS got 179 votes from the department, while its nearest rival the ABVP got 107.

Right choice of candidate

On selecting the candidate, Rattan said it was deliberately picked from the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), which had nearly 1,750 votes. “Though we had a backup candidate from the Department of Laws, selecting a candidate from the UILS helped us. The voters in this department take admission after their Class 12 examinations. They are only bothered about the development, and the AAP has done a tremendous job on this front,” he added.

Got good vote share from science depts: Kaushal

Having an experience of over 15 years in the PU students’ politics, Kaushal, former PUCSC president (2016), was given the task of handling votes from science departments. “I have been active in student politics since 2006 and had even won an election. My previous party had a stronghold in all science departments and we took full advantage of it,” said Kaushal. “It was very easy to pursue voters on the basis of works done by AAP. We roped in more and more research scholars and they helped us get a good share of voters. Besides sciences, research scholars helped us in garnering votes from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), a hub of votes for other political groups,” he added.

ABVP ally offers ‘no support’

While the ABVP’s presidential candidate got 221 votes from the UILS — the ‘kingmaker’ department — its alliance party, the Indian National Students’ Organization (INSO), got 1,064 votes for the post of secretary. The difference of votes polled clearly showed that the ally provided ‘no support’ to the ABVP. “The alliance actually backfired at the ABVP; rather it helped us in increasing our vote share. The UILS was once one of the main departments and we got a lead of 320 votes from there. The INSO secretary candidate was also from the UILS and our presidential candidate was from the same department. Had the INSO votes been polled for the ABVP candidate, the result could have been different,” added a CYSS worker.

Punjab AAP impact

Former workers, leaders and supporters of parties like the Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) and the Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), which once ruled the roost in the PU student politics, also remained active on the campus in support of the CYSS. All of them had joined the Punjab AAP and showcased their strength in these elections. Punjab Education Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, MLA Amritpal Singh Sukhanand and Parminder Singh Goldy, Chairman, Punjab Youth Development Board, actively participated in the PUCSC elections.