New Delhi, Sept. 9: An Ambedkarite group in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has swerved the electoral debate of nationalist-versus-anti-national to that of social-justice-versus-casteism.

The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (Bapsa) emerged as a strong third force, after the alliance of the CPIML-Liberation-backed All India Students Association (Aisa) and CPM-backed SFI, and the Sangh-supported Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) polls here today.

Polls in JNU are taking place against the backdrop of three students, including former union president Kanhaiya Kumar, spending weeks in jail on sedition charges earlier this year. This resulted in the coming together of the two main Left groups, the SFI and the Aisa, in order to prevent the ABVP from winning any of the four main posts.

The ABVP held one out of four main posts and the Aisa held two in the outgoing union. Of JNU's 8,802 voters, 59.6 per cent caste their vote. In the recent past, voter turnout has hovered around 55 per cent.

Bapsa leader Chinmaya Mahanand, who came fifth in the group's debut elections last year, attributed his group's rise to the "opportunistic unity" of the Left.

"Students are not buying this fractured unity of a degenerated Left. We put the SFI here on the same plank as the ABVP and the (Congress-backed) National Students Union of India. Even the Aisa and the AISF are casteist to the core and the Left has never allowed a progressive alternative by assuming the role of the sole defenders of secularism," he said.

The Left Unity doesn't include, two other key Left players-- Kanhaiya's CPI-backed All India Students Federation (AISF) and SFI-breakaway Democratic Students Federation (DSF).

Mahanand added: "The Left Unity ran a scare campaign that Bapsa will bring the ABVP to power. We focused on Oppressed Unity of Dalits, Tribals, other backward classes (OBCs), Muslims, Kashmiris and people from the Northeast. The Left responded by saying we are anti-Muslim and anti-OBC. Their own voters have come to us after being disillusioned with their campaign."

Over the past week, a battle has raged on Facebook over Bapsa's attacks on Kanhaiya and other Left activists. The group is also being criticised for not fielding a single Muslim candidate. Mahanand says they couldn't find a suitable candidate before nominations closed.

Two students from the School of Languages, who said they have voted for Aisa ever since polls resumed in JNU in 2012, said they voted for one of the Bapsa panellists. "We are Aisa people. We don't agree with Bapsa but they are passionate about what they believe in. We voted for three of the Left Unity panellists. For vice-president, we voted Bapsa's Bansidhar Deep. Even they deserve a chance."

An AISF activist told The Telegraph: "As Dalits, we feel proud hearing the loud sloganeering of Bapsa that rivals our own Left comrades. A lot of us are voting Bapsa because in the last two days, it is clear that ABVP is not a threat."

The ABVP, however, is confident of winning at least three seats. "Bapsa is taking disgruntled Left votes. Our voters remain with us. The AISA-SFI alliance is fragile and they can't transfer their votes to each other," outgoing joint secretary Saurabh Sharma of the ABVP said.

SFI’s vice presidential candidate Amal PP told this paper, “Only Dalits can talk about Dalit issues. Men can’t raise women’s issues. Like Rohith Vemula wrote in his suicide note that he was reduced to his immediate identity, Sadly, the net impact of BAPSA’s politics is this. It is still Left versus ABVP fight, but BAPSA is definitely getting independent Left sympathy votes.”

In Delhi University, the NSUI has put up a close fight to recapture DUSU from ABVP which has held the union since 2013. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed for polling after several clashes between the Aisa and the ABVP in the run-up to the polls. ABVP offered free Uber rides for students to come and vote.

"Uber approached us. Those who downloaded the app for the first time could get a free ride with the promo code ABVP1423. Those are the numbers of our central panel candidates on the voting machines. We did not have to pay anything as it is part of Uber's marketing initiative," ABVP's national media coordinator Saket Bahuguna said. Uber did not respond to calls or emails.

DU clocked a turnout of 36.9 per cent. DU results will be announced tomorrow as voting machines were announced while JNU results would be known on Monday.

Several DU students said the main issue is the lack of hostels. The varsity has accommodation for only 3,500 of the more than 1.5 lakh students. "We spend Rs 10,000 per month on paying guest accommodation. All student groups have promised to build hostels but we don't know if they will keep their word. The ABVP is assuring us that they have already completed formalities for hostels. I voted for change," said Sahil Yadav of Aurobindo College.

A group of girls in South Campus said they voted against caste.