PU its first woman president

Bhartesh Singh Thakur & Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 6

Panjab University (PU) students created history on Thursday as they selected their first woman Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) president.

Kanupriya of the Students for Society (SFS), a leftist party, emerged victorious. She defeated her nearest rival Ashish Rana of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, students’ wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by a margin of 719 votes.

Kanupriya, who is from the zoology department, polled 2,802 votes, while Rana, who is from the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), got 2,083 votes.

The Students Organisation of India (SOI), which is the students’ wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), came third as its candidate Iqbal Preet Singh, from the Centre for Human Rights and Duties, got 1,997 votes.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI), which is the students’ wing of the Indian National Congress (INC), had to bite the dust. Its candidate Anuj Singh, from the University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET), came fourth in the contest for the president’s post with just 1,583 votes. Last year, the party had emerged victorious on the posts of president, vice-president and secretary. It was one of the poorest shows of the party in recent years.

Kanupriya remained ahead of her rivals right from the start. However, it was Rana who jumped to the second place from the third spot once ballot boxes from big departments started opening up.

The SFS tasted victory after three successive losses.

As many as 209 students exercised the NOTA option for the president’s post. However, the figure was much higher for other seats because SFS supporters preferred it as they were contesting only the president’s seat.

Vice-president

Daler Singh, a geology student from the Indian Students Association (ISA), was leading right from the beginning and finally won by a margin of 928. He got 3,155 votes, while his nearest rival Pardeep Singh (Saharan), a student of the department of laws, from the NSUI, received 2,227 votes. The victory margin was the highest in the elections.

The ISA was fighting the election in alliance with the Students Organisation of India (SOI).

The NOTA option was exercised by 667 students for the vice-president’s seat.

Secretary

UIET student Amarinder Singh, from the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), emerged victorious as secretary. He received 2,742 votes, while NSUI’s Arun Kadyan, a student of the dental department, got 2,409. The victory margin was 333 votes.

The NOTA figure was the highest for the secretary’s post at 990.

The INSO contested elections in alliance with SOI.

Joint secretary

NSUI’s Vipul Atray, from the UIET, won the joint secretary’s post. He polled 2,357 votes against UILS’ Hemant Sharma, from the Haryana Students Association (HSA), who got 2,274 votes. The victory margin was the lowest at 83. Atray was the youngest candidate as he is just 19 years old.

The HSA contested as an alliance partner of the ABVP.