Patna: Divyanshu Bhardwaj, who rebelled from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to contest for Patna University students' union president as an Independent, triumphed in the election otherwise marked by the RSS student wing winning three of the five central panel posts.
Polling for 28 posts - including the central panel seats - was held on Saturday with results declared late night. Only 42.56 per cent of the voters turned up for the election, held after five years.
Candidates of the ABVP, the RSS student wing, won the posts of vice-president, general secretary and treasurer. Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan a.k.a Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad (JACP) candidate won the secretary's post.
The ABVP candidates who won included Yushita Patwardhan (vide-president) from Magadh Mahila College, who defeated AISF candidate Anuskha Arya by 850 votes. Patwardhan polled 1,765 votes while Arya secured 915. ABVP candidate and Patna Science College student Sudhanshu Bhushan Jha won the general secretary's post securing 1,647 votes, while the treasurer's post went to Nitish Kumar, another ABVP candidate
The election's biggest surprise was Divyanshu Bhardwaj, who was denied a ticket by the ABVP, winning the president's post. Divyanshu, who secured 1,862 votes, defeated Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad candidate Gautam Anand by 112 votes.
Many candidates with strong organisational backup, including United Left candidate Mitu Kumari, ABVP candidate Mukesh Kumar and RJD-NSUI candidate Rahul Roy, failed to perform.
Pappu Yadav's candidates, fighting the election for the first time, performed better than the United Left, RJD-NSUI and Chhatra JDU. JACP candidate Azad Chand won the joint secretary's post while its presidential candidate Gautam Anand came in second.
"I thanked students of all colleges who supported me," Divyanshu said. "I will work to fulfil the promises I made. My focus will be to solve students' problems."
Opposition candidates said ABVP was funded by corporate houses. Others differed.
"ABVP won because it raised issues affecting students," said Vinay Kumar, a student of Patna Science College. "They were successful in convincing students about their agenda for academic and infrastructure development of the varsity while Opposition candidates' campaign revolved around criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar."
Many candidates had raised the issue of the Prime Minister rejecting Nitish and the varsity administration's request for central university status to the 100-year-old Patna University. "The ABVP's strong organisational set-up also helped its candidates," Vinay added.
There were reports of violence at Patna Science College campus, where the counting of votes was held, between supporters of candidates.
Governor Satya Pal Malik congratulated the winning candidates and the varsity for "smooth conduct" of the election, and urged other universities to conduct their students' polls on the lines of PU.
