NEW DELHI: With the election committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) officially announcing the final list of candidates for upcoming elections on Monday, the countdown for the battle of the ballot slated for October 27 is finally on.

While nine candidates are eyeing the coveted presidential post, the front runners will clearly be the All India Students' Association's Mona Das, who will be making a bid for a second term, and the Students' Federation of India-All India Students' Federation alliance candidate Sona Mitra, who is being seen as the outgoing president's closest contender.

Comeback attempt

Making a desperate attempt for a comeback will be Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) Umesh Kumar Singh, with the National Students' Union of India's (NSUI) Ninad Shankar Nag making one more attempt at reopening their account with a central panel seat.

With the JNUSU elections seldom being restricted to only campus issues, this year will once again see the campus discuss and debate everything from relief measures for Kashmir to hostels, the dialogue process in the North-East to a 24-hour "dhaba" on the campus and globalisation to communalism.

From candidates supported by political outfits to those battling it out on nothing but their own will and spirit, the country's only election to be completely managed by students is all set for its annual date with democracy.

Monday being the first day of campaigning, most candidates spoke their hearts out, with many as usual overshooting the prescribed time limit. And as allegations and counter-allegations flew thick and fast, it was clear that the JNU elections would continue to be very political in nature.

In the race for the vice-president's post this time are five candidates, with SFI fielding Dhananjay Tripathi, AISA going for Kanika Singh, ABVP with Vijay Kumar and the NSUI putting forward Mohammed Maruf Hussain.

For the general secretary's post, there are five candidates again with Amit Singh from ABVP, Awadesh Kumar from AISA, Suman Sonkar from NSUI and Fauzan Abrar from AISF -- the only candidate the outfit is fielding in the elections -- for the alliance.

The joint secretary's post has Arani Sinha from SFI, Sandeep Singh from AISA and Ankita Bhattacharjee from ABVP in the main fight.

Hunger strike

The only section to really go without a fight this year will be elections to the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment, which this year has only two nominations. Sunday, in fact, saw a hunger strike being held by a student, Tanvee Patel, whose nomination was rejected on the plea that it did not have a female proposer or seconder.

Although only a custom and not a written rule, the JNUSU Election committee decided following an all organisation meeting to cancel the nomination after another consideration. With both the GSCASH nominees this year to be elected unopposed, Patel called for a public debate on the matter, noting that the intention was not to question the sanctity of the Commission but to ensure that "unwritten norms are not allowed to override democracy and a genuine candidate who had not knowingly violated any rule, be allowed to contest."

The councillor's seat is the most important one for the ordinary student in JNU.

This time 20 students have filed nominations for the post of councillor in the School of Language and Literature, 20 in the School of International Studies, and 21 in the School of Social Sciences.

At least three schools will see unopposed victory, with only one student filing nomination in the Bioinformatics Centre, Shephali, Suvir Kumar Ranjan and Neeraj Kumar Sharma.

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