After scrutiny of papers, only four candidates are in fray for the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) president’s post but not a single woman is in the race.
Till date, Kanurpiya of SFS remains the only woman to have won the post. Those in the race include Aadil Brar of the Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), Ankit Bidhan of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Darshpreet Singh of Sath and Gurman Singh Sidhu of the National Students Union of India (NSUI). The nomination of a fifth candidate, Pranav of Students Organisation of India (SOI), was cancelled over low attendance. The Left parties have usually shown the way by fielding women candidates. The All India Students Association (AISA) is the only left organisation contesting the elections this time. Its candidates Armaan Singh and Ameen Kaur are fighting for the vice-president and joint secretary’s post, respectively. They usually pick candidates based on who they feel are most likely to win. But it’s unfortunate that there is not a single woman in the race this time. But experts opine that ASAP which has entered into an alliance with Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), the student wing of Haryana-based Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), is also likely to benefit from the mix of Haryana and Punjab voters.
This is for the first time in 11 years that no party has fielded a woman candidate for the top post. This is for the first time since 2015 that no woman is contesting the president’s post. In fact, the campus got its first woman president from a left-leaning party – the Students for Society (SFS) in 2018. SFS has not contested the PUCSC polls since 2024, while PSU Lalkaar, another left-leaning party, is also out of this year’s contest.
On the lack of women’s representation in the elections for the top post, Kanurpiya said, “An all-male list is a reflection of the male-chauvinist culture on campus. It’s the old boys’ club of PU that still influences student body elections and conforms to politics that is exclusionary,” she said. Former DSW and political science professor Emanual Nahar said, “Parties start canvassing two to three months in advance.
This is also AISA’s first time in the PUCSC polls after its candidate failed to clear the nomination process last year. SOI staged a protest outside the dean students welfare (DSW) office on Monday and said it would continue its agitation against the university.
