AISA cuts into NSUI's vote bank, inches ahead

NEW DELHI: All India Students' Association has proved that its performance in the Delhi University Students' Union elections last year was no fluke. It has done even better this time. In 2013, the highest number of votes won by an AISA candidate was 8,229; this year, the lowest number won is 9,338. The group's candidate for the position of secretary, Aman Gautam, garnered the maximum-12,932.And by all accounts-even NSUI volunteers'-it's the support base of National Students' Union of India that AISA has bitten into.
Though still without a seat-in either DUSU or colleges-AISA is pleased with the results. "We never claimed we are the overwhelming favourite but that we are in the race. Our claims are vindicated at least in the case of three out of four positions," explained Sunny Kumar, Delhi state secretary, AISA.
He also argued that while AISA appears to have "gained" most from NSUI, it has also successfully contained Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. "ABVP won all posts but the number of votes hasn't increased as dramatically as it should have, considering BJP is in government. NSUI was much less able to take on the challenge," says Kumar. "For us, there's little difference between them." The outcome of the general elections has been considered responsible for ABVP's increased confidence in JNU.
"Electoral reform," is at the top of AISA's to-do list. "The distribution of votes for posts of vice-president and secretary is more realistic (AISA's haul in these two has doubled since 2013). As for the position of president, voters have been influenced by a variety of activities that are violations of the code of conduct and also against election ethics. Huge amounts of money were pumped in over the last few days when candidates had nothing to say except their names," said Kumar adding, "Reforms will be very big on our agenda."
The numbers may signal a change in voters-not everyone is swayed by parties-but AISA is yet to consolidate its position in colleges it has just entered. The group's presence in DU expanded dramatically within a year but in over a dozen colleges, as these elections attest, it is still weak. "We have increased and intensified our presence. In over 20 colleges we have either led or very closely contested with ABVP and NSUI," said an AISA statement. "It is in the remaining 25 and more colleges where we are relatively new and could not transform our presence into votes. This is our immediate target. AISA is growing very fast while ABVP and NSUI have reached a saturation point," it added.
AISA members contested at four colleges and lost at Satyawati (evening) and Ram Lal Anand by very slim margins-just 21 and 15 votes respectively.