Dhananjay becomes 1st Dalit president of JNU since 1996; Know all about him
Dhananjay from the All India Students' Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president's post by securing 2,598 votes against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) Umesh C Ajmeera.
FollowThe Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) elected its first Dalit president from the Left-backed groups after nearly three decades.  The United Left panel won a complete sweep in the JNUSU election, defeating its nearest challenger, the RSS-affiliated ABVP. After a four-year break, Dhananjay from the All India Students' Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president's office with 2,598 votes, defeating Umesh C Ajmeera of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) with 1,676 votes.
Who is Dhananjay?
After Batti Lal Bairwa, who was elected in 1996–1997, Dhananjay is the first president of the Left among Dalits, and he is from Gaya, Bihar. He is a PhD candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Arts and Aesthetics.
He voiced worries about the higher costs as a result of university loans from the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) during the JNUSU presidential debate. He promised to address infrastructural, health, and water-related problems on campus and called for the release of student leaders who were being held on sedition charges. The safety of women on campus, fund cuts, scholarship hike, infrastructural and water crisis will be his core agenda as the president of JNU's students union.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union polls on Friday witnessed a voter turnout of 73 per cent, highest in the last 12 years.
Know all about other results
Avijit Ghosh (Left) defeated Deepika Sharma (ABVP) by 927 votes for the vice-president’s post. Priyanshi Arya (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association, supported by the Left) defeated Arjun Anand (ABVP) by 926 votes for the general secretary’s post; while Mohammad Sajid (Left) defeated Govind Dangi (ABVP) by 508 votes for the joint secretary’s post.
