Panjab University is set to start the filing of nominations for Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections from Monday, all student parties will test their mettle for the PUCSC presidential seat. With upcoming assembly elections coming up in Punjab, and even the municipal corporation (MC) council elections scheduled later this year, the student elections become even more important.
This year, NSUI has been able to reconcile with its breakaway faction, Student Front which had formed in 2024 and won the election with Anurag Dalal and was allegedly denied a ticket by NSUI. They had first contested elections in 2022 in which they won with Aayush Khatkar as the PUCSC president. In 2023 and 2024, they came second and were in close contest, however last year under Mankirat Singh Mann the party was placed at fourth out of eight. Student Organisation of India (SOI) had the president of the student council back in 2019 when Chetan Chaudhary won against Paras Rattan of ABVP. Seerat who had contested from the party’s ticket had secured 422 votes.
The student wing of Congress has a point to prove, after not being able to win the presidential seat in PUCSC for two years in a row. The last PUCSC president from NSUI, Jatinder Singh is also involved in the campaigning. With their votes combined this year, NSUI has put forward a serious claim to the PUCSC presidential chair, but it remains to be seen if this bonhomie between factions will continue till the election date. However the Aam Aadmi Party have assigned member of parliament (MP) Meet Hayer as the election incharge of the party’s campaign. Party insiders claim that this shows the intent of the parent party as Hayer is known for being the strategist behind many poll wins of AAP. Being the student wing of Punjab government, ASAP will have to give an explanation to students regarding pending payment for hostels and other projects that Punjab has to make to PU. This year with the formation of Panjab University Democratic Front out of allegedly disgruntled members of the party, SOI’s fight might be both internal as well as external as the party tries to re-establish the dominance it had enjoyed in the PUCSC polls in previous decades.
Further, last year after ABVP, Sumit Sharma of Student Front was the second in the race for post of president while Prabjot Singh Gill of NSUI was third. ASAP, previously known as Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), has remained on a downward trajectory. Since then, the party was rarely seen on campus and many were uncertain if they would even contest the elections this year. A bad performance by them could show AAP in a bad light before the Punjab assembly polls. Since then, the party has failed to make much of a dent when it comes to the presidential race.
The party will bank on the social media success that former vice-president Ashmeet Singh Mann has garnered over the past year. Sath uses the picture of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on their campaign posters. With the release of the movie Satluj which showcased a part of his life, Sath will be looking to bank on the public sentiment created by the movie even though the party had issued a statement to condemn the way Khalra was portrayed in the movie.
Sath which started as a study group around 2019 have won the vice-president seat of PUCSC two times in the last three years. However, this is the first time since 2022 when the party will fight for the presidential seat.
Their candidate this year Darshpreet Singh believes that people follow the message of the party and they will now look to repeat last year’s success but on a bigger scale with the PUCSC president seat in mind.
