Hyderabad: UoH campus set for students’ union elections on Friday

Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) is set to face the Students’ Union (SU) election on Friday, October 25, after a four-day-long heated election campaign. The time for polling is scheduled between 9 am and 5 pm.

The last three UoH-SU elections invited nationwide attention by successfully electing the Left-Ambedkarite alliance to power, rejecting the RSS student outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The four-party coalition of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA), Dalit Students’ Union (DSU), and Bahujan Students’ Front (BSF) remains the leading contender for the 2024-25 UoH-SU elections. Following is the list of candidates of the coalition alongside the positions they are contesting for:

• Umesh Ambedkar: Presidential candidate from PhD Management Studies for the ASA-BSF-DSU-SFI panel
• Akash Kumar: Vice presidential candidate from the Centre for Comparative Literature
• Nihad Sulaiman: General secretary candidate, integrated Master’s student from the Department of Political Science
• Triveni: Joint secretary candidate, doctoral research candidate from the Department of Sociology
• K V Krishnamurthy: Cultural secretary candidate, pursuing MVA Printmaking at the university
• Abdur Rahaman: Sports secretary candidate from the Department of Optometry
• Khushi Prerna Tigga: ICC-GSCASH candidate from Integrated Masters, IMA Language Sciences.
• Shrutikirti: ICC-GSCASH candidate from MA Sociology
• Bhavitha: ICC-GSCASH candidate from PhD candidate from the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy.

The ABVP-SLVD (Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal) panel is fielding a lineup of candidates for the upcoming elections. Here is the list of candidates along with the positions they are contesting for:

• Sakshi: Presidential candidate from PhD Education
• Pawana: Vice presidential candidate from PhD Hindi
• Yasaswi: General secretary candidate from PhD Biochemistry, representing the ABVP alliance
• Mushaid Ahmed: Joint secretary candidate from IMA Urdu
• Sunil Reddi: Sports secretary candidate, an IMSc Biology student
• Sonia Das: Cultural secretary candidate from MA Economics
• Boda Anupriya: ICC-GSCASH candidate for Integrated Masters from IMA Economics
• Geyani: ICC-GSCASH candidate for MBA
• Aswathy EC: ICC-GSCASH candidate for Research level.

Meanwhile, Akash Bhati, a former general secretary of ABVP-HCU is also contesting for the post of UoH-students’ union president in the election, over differences with the unit leadership.

The third front, led by NSUI (National Students’ Union of India), is also in competition. MSF (Muslim Students Federation) and AISA (All India Students Association) are the other two parties of the third front. The NSUI-MSF-AISA coalition is fielding a diverse group of candidates for the upcoming elections. Here is the list of candidates along with the positions they are contesting in the UoH students’ union elections:

• Muna Saldana: Presidential candidate from MSc Mathematics.
• Adyant Vats: Vice presidential candidate from MA Political Science.
• C Sunil Kumar: General secretary candidate, PhD candidate from Management Studies.
• Suhani Lenka: Joint secretary candidate from Optometry.
• Mangpi: Sports secretary candidate from MA Communication.
• AMALA VK: Sole ICC-GSCASH candidate from MA English.

The counting process for the 2024-25 UoH students’ union elections is scheduled for Saturday, October 26, with results for the central panel and various school councils expected to be announced as early as 12 pm.

This election follows the abrupt dissolution of the previous students’ union, which was communicated through a circular issued by the Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) on October 15. Notably, the election was called without convening a University General Body Meeting (UGBM), raising questions about the decision-making process leading up to this electoral cycle and was widely condemned by various student organisations on campus.