According to the university’s election committee, a total of 9,043 students were eligible to vote this year. (Photo: X/JNU_Photos)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), one of India’s top educational institutions, is once again at the centre of an intense political showdown. The 2025 JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections have revived the age-old rivalry between the Left Unity and the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Voting took place on November 4 in two sessions, from 9 AM to 1 PM and from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM. The university recorded an impressive 67 per cent voter turnout this year, reflecting the students’ strong participation in campus democracy.
The results of the JNUSU Elections 2025 will be announced on Thursday, November 6.
Since 1971, the Left has dominated the JNUSU elections, shaping the campus’s political identity. The Left student unions, led by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA), have been the driving forces behind JNU’s reputation as a bastion of Left politics.
In over five decades, the Left has lost the JNUSU elections only twice, once in 1991, when Congress’s student wing NSUI won, and again in 2000, when the ABVP claimed victory.
In 1991, Tanvir Akhtar from NSUI became the JNUSU president, while in 2000, Sandeep Mahapatra from ABVP won the top post.
According to JNU’s election records, the SFI has produced 22 presidents so far, followed by AISA, the student wing of CPI-ML, with 11 presidents. Independent candidates have won the top post eight times.
This year, the contest is expected to be close. The Left Unity alliance, a coalition of AISA, SFI, and DSF, has fielded Aditi Mishra for the president’s post. The ABVP, on the other hand, has put forward Vikas Patel for the same position.
Other candidates in the presidential race include Vikash Bishnoi (NSUI), Raj Ratan Rajoria (BAPSA), Shirshava Indu (DISHA), Shinde Vijayalaxmi (Progressive Students’ Association), and Angad Singh (Independent).
For the post of vice-president, the major contestants are Kizhakoot Gopika Babu (Left Unity), Tanya Kumari (ABVP), and Shaikh Shahnawaz Alam (NSUI).
Last year, the JNU campus once again “painted red” as the Left alliance secured three of the four top positions.
Nitish Kumar (AISA) became President, Manisha (DSF) won Vice-President, and Munteha Fatima (DSF) took General Secretary. However, the ABVP ended its decade-long drought when Vaibhav Meena won the Joint Secretary post, marking its first victory in ten years.
The win energized the ABVP, which now hopes to expand its influence further in the 2025 polls.
