GUWAHATI: The result of the PGSU election of Guwahati University brings smiles to All Assam Student Union (AASU) and ABVP candidates after much debate and protest over the conduct of the election in the premier institution of the Northeast. But the story isn’t quite finished yet. Two posts — General Secretary and Social Service Secretary — remain unresolved, kept pending after the university cancelled nominations following a wave of protests, leaving a small but significant gap in an otherwise complete result sheet.
The counting, which wrapped up late on Friday night, eventually gave candidates backed by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) the upper hand, with the group bagging the presidency and six other posts. Not far behind, both the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Asom Chhatra Parishad (ACP) — the student wing of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) — managed to hold their ground, picking up three seats apiece.
Arunav Duwarah emerged as the face of AASU’s victory, winning the president’s post with 1,471 votes. Alongside him, Abantika Mahanta was elected literary secretary, polling 1,729 votes, while Jyotirmoy Das and Anushka Medhi took the boys’ and girls’ common room secretary posts respectively, with margins of 2,181 and 1,931 votes.
If there was one result that really stood out, though, it was Neel Kamal Baruah’s win for cultural secretary — his 2,220 votes turned out to be the highest margin recorded in the entire election, a number that student circles on campus have already started talking about. Two more AASU-backed candidates, Dubari Saikia (music secretary) and Rajib Boro (sports secretary), didn’t even have to face a contest, having been elected unopposed.
ABVP hold its ground
For ABVP, the results offered some comfort despite trailing AASU in overall numbers. Krishtina Lahon won the assistant secretary (postgraduate) post with 1,745 votes, Bhisanka Jyoti Dutta claimed the assistant secretary (undergraduate) position with 2,077 votes, and Krishti Saikia secured the fine arts secretary post with 1,590 votes.
Meanwhile, ACP’s showing was arguably its most efficient of the lot — every single candidate it backed ended up winning. Amartya Duarah was elected vice-president with 1,799 votes, Rainbow Narzary took the gymnasium secretary post with a strong 2,192 votes, and Suman Sahil Pegu rounded things off by winning the major games secretary seat with 1,839 votes.
The university authorities had earlier cancelled nominations for the General Secretary and Social Service Secretary posts, a decision that triggered several rounds of protests on campus in the run-up to polling day. With tempers running high and the matter still unresolved, elections for these two posts were called off altogether — meaning the PGSU body, for now, will function without anyone occupying what are traditionally considered two of its more influential positions.
University officials have indicated that fresh dates for these elections will be announced in due course, but students on campus say the wait is already testing patience, especially among those who had hoped to contest.
For those following Gauhati University’s student politics closely, AASU’s strong showing this year isn’t entirely unexpected — the organisation has had a fairly consistent run in PGSU elections over the past few years, though the margins and the mix of winning parties have varied considerably from one year to the next. ABVP, for its part, has had its share of strong years too, having clinched the presidency outright in the previous election cycle. But this time AASU has emerged as the most choiced option for the students of the biggest university of the region.
