ABVP Breaches Communist-Ambedkarite Citadel Of Hyderabad University, Sweeps Student Union Polls

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) registered a sweeping victory in the 2018-19 University of Hyderabad Students Union (UoH SU) elections. The results were declared on Saturday (6 October).

ABVP backed candidates emerged as winners for all the six posts- President, Vice President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary, Sports Secretary and Cultural Secretary- for which elections were held on 5 October. The keenly contested election witnessed a 75 per cent student turnout.

Aarti Nagpal, a PhD Psychology student, bagged the post of SU president by defeating Erram Naveen Kumar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) backed SFI. This is the second time in the university's history that a woman has become the President of Students Union.

ABVP had entered in an electoral alliance with two other student outfits - OBC Federation and Sevalal Vidyarthi Dal.

ABVP alliance candidates Amit Kumar, Dheeraj Sangoji, Praveen Chouhan, Aravind S Kumar and Nikhil Raj won the posts of Vice President, General Secretary, Joint Secretary, Sports Secretary and Cultural Secretary respectively.

UoH SU has been a Communist-Ambedkarite citadel for years now. ABVP last registered success in student elections in 2009-10.

In 2016, the university was the epicentre of student protest following the suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.

The politicisation of Vemula’s death and the protest that followed, led to the formation of an umbrella outfit comprising various student bodies including Ambedkar Students Association and SFI, claiming to fight against caste and class discrimination in educational institutions. It has been winning the student body elections in the University of Hyderabad for the last couple of years.