JNU polls 2025: Voting today for student union; results on November 6

NEW DELHI: The stage is set at Jawaharlal Nehru University as students head to the polls today to elect the new JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU). Following a fiery midnight debate that saw candidates spar over national politics, campus policies and student rights, the campus is abuzz with anticipation.Flags of rival student groups — from the Left Unity to ABVP, NSUI and others — flutter across hostels as voting begins, marking one of the most politically vibrant student elections in the country.Voting will take place across the campus through the day, and results will be declared on November 6. For the first time, the JNUSU Election Committee has launched a website to live-stream the counting process.

This year’s contest is shaping up as a direct face-off between the Left Unity — a coalition of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) — and the ABVP, which has campaigned aggressively on a platform of “performance and nationalism.”The mandatory 24-hour “no-campaigning” period came into effect after the high-voltage presidential debate that began post-midnight on Monday — the grand finale of the campaign season — where six candidates from the Left, ABVP, NSUI, Progressive Students’ Association (PSA), Disha Students’ Organisation (DSO) and independent panels faced off before a packed audience at the Students’ Activity Centre. The BAPSA nominee missed the debate due to personal reasons.

Left Unity’s presidential candidate Aditi Mishra, a PhD scholar from the School of International Studies, said the polls were being held “at a time when dissent and equality are under threat,” vowing to defend “an inclusive JNU that remains accessible to all.”Her main rival, ABVP’s Vikas Patel, countered that the Left had “ruled and ruined JNU for five decades,” saying students now wanted “accountability and solution-oriented politics.”Other contenders, including PSA’s Shinde Vijayalaxmi Vyankat Rao, NSUI’s Vikash and independent candidate Angad Singh, criticised both dominant blocs for neglecting key student issues such as research funding, hostel safety and fellowships. Rao’s impassioned speech — punctuated with poetry by Bashir Badr — drew loud applause from the crowd.The Left Unity panel comprises Aditi Mishra (President), Kizhakoot Gopika Babu (Vice-President), Sunil Yadav (General Secretary) and Danish Ali (Joint Secretary), while the ABVP panel includes Vikas Patel (President), Tanya Kumari (Vice-President), Rajeshwar Kant Dubey (General Secretary) and Anuj (Joint Secretary).In last year’s election, AISA’s Nitish Kumar won the president’s post, while ABVP’s Vaibhav Meena broke the Left’s decade-long streak by securing the Joint Secretary position — a result the ABVP hailed as a “historic shift” in JNU politics.With campaigning now over, the once poster-covered walls of JNU have fallen silent. Yet anticipation runs high as thousands of students prepare to cast their votes in one of India’s most watched student elections — often seen as a mirror to the nation’s broader ideological shifts.