Rajasthan Students’ Union Polls: How Independent Candidates Stole the Thunder From BJP and Cong

Jaipur: With independent candidates ruling the roost and winning the seat of president in five out of 12 universities, this year’s Rajasthan Students’ union elections are proving to be a wakeup call for both the BJP an the Congress.

While ABVP, which is the student wing of the BJP-RSS, established victory in four universities, Congress’ student wing NSUI failed to showcase its strength, winning in only three universities.   Results were similar in more than 100 colleges, where independents won the maximum share, much to the surprise to poll pandits.

The results in Rajasthan University, the biggest institution in the state, did not bring good news for the two big parties either. Independent candidate Vinod Jakhar defeated his nearest rival ABVP candidate with 1,854 votes. Jakhar is first Scheduled Caste candidate to achieve the post of president in Rajasthan University in 50 years. While NSUI and ABVP candidates spent a lot of money on the poll campaign, all of Jakhar’s fund came through donation. He collected one rupee for per student.

ABVP general secretary (organisation) Arjun Tiwari claimed that while independent candidates won more universities than ABVP, the student wing RSS won 60 per cent seats in colleges.

Congress state spokesperson Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, too, accepted that NSUI did not perform well, but insisted that “independent candidates have their reach only till colleges and in the state elections, the youth will vote only for the Congress.”

The defeat is particularly disappointing for the Congress as its Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot is a popular youth leader but the party's student wing failed to use his leader’s image to its advantage.

Dalit social worker Satish Kumar said the student election results are a clear indication that “the youngsters are not happy with the BJP”. “But instead of shifting to the Congress, these youngsters are choosing a separate path and voting for independent candidates,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, after a gap of five years, ABVP finally managed a win in the MDS university. It is primarily the 12 universities in Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur and Jodhpur that decide the voting trend in elections every year.