ABVP sweeps Hyderabad university student union polls, ends 8-year Left domination

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, swept the students’ union polls at the University of Hyderabad, results of which were declared on Saturday night.

The elections, held on Friday amidst tight security, witnessed a triangular fight involving ABVP, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Student Federation of India (SFI).

The UDA comprises students belonging to Adivasi-Dalit-Bahujan and Muslim organisations, besides Tribal Students Federation. The SFI, which is the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was part of the this alliance, chose to fight separately on ideological grounds.

The ABVP joined hands with two other student groups — Other Backward Classes Federation (OBCF) and the newly formed Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal.

This is the first time that the ABVP has won the student union elections in UoH after a gap of eight years. In all the previous eight occasions, the saffron student wing could not win even a single seat.

As per the final results, the victorious students are: Aarti N Nagpal (president), Amit Kumar (vice-president), Dheeraj Sangoji (general secretary), Praveen Kumar S (joint secretary), Aravind S Kumar (cultural secretary) and Nikhil Raj K (sports secretary).

The victory of ABVP in the UoH elections assumes significance in the wake of the unrest prevailing on the campus following the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula on January 17, 2016, after alleged caste-based discrimination on the campus.

Vemula had allegedly resorted to the extreme step following a protest along with four other Dalit students over their suspension by the university following a clash with an ABVP leader.

First Published: Oct 06, 2018 22:59 IST