The months of August and September are critical for every university and college across India as they all embark on student union elections. This means a new wave of polarisation; an ensemble of slogans and a new throng of students ready to immerse themselves in deep discussions on local and global issues. The election season truly proves the cliche that universities are the battlefield of ideas. This is particularly true in the case of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which is one of the most politically vibrant campuses of the country, and possibly the world. 

For the past year and a half, not a single week has passed without JNU being mentioned in the headlines of the national newspapers and television media. The elections for the posts of  the Students Union come after months of turbulence in JNU—from the anti-national kerfuffle to the continued disappearance of the student Najeeb Ahmed. It faced institutional attacks including seat cuts in MPhil and PhD courses and an omission of deprivation points that are awarded to backward sections in entrance exams. With a Vice-Chancellor who has widely been dubbed as a stooge of the Central government and been called uncooperative, biased, and anti-student by a majority of students through a referendum, the election will be highly decisive to the student movement of JNU, also to the left student movement in India. 

The Election Committee for the 2017 JNUSU elections is headed by Bhagat Singh Saini, a research scholar from the Centre for Economic Systems and Planning. Today, it released the list of final candidates for the post of School Counsellors and the Central Panel that include the post of President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary. The nomination process took place on Tuesday at Teflas, the EC office. 

The political groups contesting elections this year are the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the All India Students Association (AISA), the All India Students Federation (AISF), the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA), the Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organisation (BASO), the Democratic Students Federation (DSF), the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Students Federation of India (SFI). While AISA, AISF, DSF, and SFI represent the Left, ABVP represents the Right. BAPSA is an Ambedkarite group on campus which was formed in 2014. 

Last year, the Student Union was dominated by the Left alliance between the AISA and the SFI. This year, however, the Left alliance has widened to include the DSF, an autonomous JNU organisation, symbolising a stronger and more stable Left on the campus which has been grappling against a difficult administration. The joint march by the three political groups on Tuesday from Teflas to Sabarmati Dhaba affirmed the alliance against the rival ABVP and other political groups. At Sabarmati Dhaba, the factions raised slogans and motivated their cadres for the upcoming elections. The parties also declared their candidates for the Central Panel

AISA-SFI-DSF: Geeta Kumari, Simon Zoya Khan, Duggirala Srikrishna, and Shubhansu Singh. 

BAPSA: Shabana Ali, Subodh Kunwer, Karam Bidyanath, Vinod Kumar

AISF:   Aparajitha Raja (other candidates are yet to be announced)

ABVP: Nidhi Tripathi, Durgesh, Nikunj Makwana, Pankaj Keshri

The nomination process will be over with the official declaration of candidates and a University General Body Meeting. The popular presidential debate has been scheduled on September 6 at 9:30 PM, Jhelum Lawns.