HISTORIC! Priyanshi Arya becomes first BAPSA candidate to secure JNUSU's central panel seat in 30 years

For the first time in its existence, the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) was able to secure a spot on the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union's (JNUSU) Central Panel. In the student union elections, BAPSA's general secretary candidate Priyanshi Arya defeated Arjun Anand of the ABVP with a margin of 926 votes. Anand garnered 1,961 votes, compared to 2,887 for Arya.

#WATCH | JNU students' union election results | Priyanshi Arya (BAPSA Left Supported) elected as the General Secretary, after securing 2887 votes.

Chairperson of the Election Committee (CEC) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Shailendra Kumar says, "For the post of General… pic.twitter.com/Bh49lDHcUE

— ANI (@ANI) March 24, 2024

When the JNUSU results were announced late on Sunday night, the United Left coalition won a landslide victory in three of the Central Panel's four seats, with BAPSA winning one of those seats in 30 years. The elections at the university were held after a four-year break and Dhananjay of the All India Students' Association (AISA) defeated Umesh C Ajmeera of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) with 2,598 votes to win the position of JNUSU president.

The United Left extended its support to Arya when the ABVP challenged Swati Singh, the party's nominee, and the Election Committee revoked her nomination.

Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) is an Ambedkarite students’ organization at the Jawaharlal Nehru University which was formed on November 15, 2014 on the death anniversary of Birsa Munda. Since the JNUSU elections began, BAPSA has never been able to win a seat on the Central Panel, which is made up of the joint secretary, president, vice president, and secretary.