Rajasthan Student Union Polls: SFI Clean Sweep in Sikar, Jhunjhunu; NSUI Wiped out

An Independent candidate has won the Rajasthan University students union presidential election for the 19th consecutive time. Nirmal Chaudhary defeated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) rebel candidate Niharika Jorwal by more than 1,400 votes.

Chaudhary secured 4,843 votes as against 2,578 garnered by Jorwal while NSUI candidate Ritu Barala secured the third position.

The results of student union polls in various universities and their constituent colleges in Rajasthan were announced on Saturday, turning out to be a major embarrassment for the Congress-backed NSUI, which failed to win the post of president in any major university in the state.

According to Dainik Bhaskar, the NSUI was unable to win the post of president at any of the 10 universities where results were announced till evening—including even the tribal universities in Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Udaipur, Kota, and Banswara among others. NSUI candidate Hariram Godara could manage to win the post of president at Dungar College, Bikaner.

RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate Narendra Yadav was elected general secretary,

Independent candidate Amisha Meena vice-president and NSUI’s Dhara Kumawat joint secretary.

At Mohanlal Sukhadiya University, Udaipur, the ABVP won all the posts continuing the trend of winning the presidential elections since the last four years. Likewise, it won all the posts at Maharishi Dayanand University, Ajmer.

At Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shekhawati University, Sikar, the Left’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI) bagged all the posts with Vijendra Dhaka emerging victorious as president by 25 votes. The SFI won all the posts at Jhunjhunu’s Seth Netram Maghraj Tibrewala Government Girls College and Shri Radheshyam R. Morarka Govt. PG College.

The students elections, at nearly 15 universities and more than 400 government colleges across the state in which around 6 lakh students were expected to vote, were held after a gap of two years due to COVID-19. 

Earlier in the day, controversy erupted at Rajasthan University even before the results were announced with the university administration not sharing any updates on counting. Reportedly, there was a fight between some officials during the counting.

The NSUI also expelled six of its members for six years on Saturday for contesting the elections independently after they failed to secure tickets. Among those expelled was Jorwal, who is the daughter of sitting state Cabinet minister Murali Lal Meena.