The Patna University Students Union (Pusu) election results came as a shock for Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidates.

The LDF was formed after the CPI students wing, All India Students Federation (AISF), the CPI ML students’ wing, All India Students’ Association (AISA), and the RJD students’ wing, Chhatra RJD, joined hands.

The three wings had fought the elections separately in 2012 and this year’s February polls. But this time the three entities formed a coalition to check a split in votes. But even after coming together the parties failed to win any seat in the central panel.

LDF president Bhagya Bharti got 1,940 votes, less than the 3,477 votes that winning presidential candidate, Mohit Prakash of the JDU, secured. The ABVP’s Abhinav Kumar secured 2,266 votes.

“The election results were a setback for us,” said an AISF leader speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“We are active on the campus round the year, raising students’ issues. Our members are present at all colleges and departments, spreading the message of our party, but when the results came in it was disappointing for us.” He further said: “Our joining hands with the Chhatra RJD, too, failed to translate Chhatra RJD votes in favour of our candidate or vice versa.”

Students celebrate at Patna Science College. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

AISF state secretary Sushil Kumar said: “The results are a setback. We have to introspect why we failed to win any seat.”

The Pusu election was a setback for the LDF, as none of its members were successful in winning any central panel seats.

In the 2012 Pusu election, held after 28 years, the AISF had won the posts of vice-president and general secretary, while the treasurer’s seat had gone to the Chhatra RJD.

However, in February, neither the AISF nor the Chhatra RJD won any seat in the central panel.

PU students’ union vice-president-elect Anjana Singh

Treasurer-elect Kumar Satyam

General secretary-elect Manikant Mani Pictures by Nagendra Kumar Singh

In the elections in February, the ABVP had won three seats while Independent candidate Divyanshu Bhardwaj won the president’s post. Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav’s party’s student wing, the Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad, had grabbed the secretary’s post. In this election even the Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad failed to win any central panel seat.

Unlike in the last election, this election came into the limelight after JDU vice-president Prashant Kishor’s visit to meet vice-chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh a day before the polls became an issue. A group of students who were opposing Kishor’s visit, surrounded his car when he was returning after meeting the vice-chancellor.

The BJP, which is in alliance with the JDU in Bihar, had accused Kishor of trying to influence the varsity elections. Without naming anybody, BJP leaders had said that some people related to event management were trying to influence the student union elections.