Jadavpur University is all set for an interesting contest for the students’ union elections as for the first time in the university’s history, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AVBP), students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has fielded candidates.
Elections to three faculties — humanities, science and engineering — will be held after three years on Wednesday. The AVBP has put candidates for nine out of 12 posts of office-bearers of the union. So far the contest had been between the SFI and other Left-leaning students’ union, but the presence of the AVBP has added a new dimension.
Sampriti Modak, a third year student of International Relations, is the only woman candidate supported by the AVBP.
“We are contesting because we want the students should have an option to choose,” she said, alleging that the Left students’ union has not even allowed them to campaign. All posters have been torn and thrown in the university pond, said Ms. Modak, who is contesting for the post of general secretary of the Arts Faculty.