UoH Student Union Polls Conclude Smoothly With Nearly 80% Turnout; Results Today
Nearly 80 per cent of eligible students voted in the University of Hyderabad Students’ Union elections, with counting and results scheduled for Tuesday.
Polling for the University of Hyderabad (UoH) Students’ Union elections concluded on Monday after a largely smooth day, with an estimated 80 per cent of votes from most schools. Around 5,900 students were eligible to vote, while 220 candidates contested nine central posts and 59 school board councillor seats across 13 schools. Counting will begin on Tuesday morning and results are expected the same day.
“Everything went very well,” said Dilshada Raihan V.P., presidential candidate of the ASA-AISA-DSU-SFI-TSF alliance, after polling. She said there was some tension at CIS during the day, but added that no conflict followed and voting proceeded smoothly.
Asked about the number of votes cast, she estimated polling at close to 80 per cent in almost every school and said she was “expecting positive” and referred to support from students who face everyday problems on campus.
Regular Voting was held from 9 am to 5 pm, but the Election Commission had created an additional window for students appearing for the Telangana State Eligibility Test (TGSET) on Monday. Students who had registered for the facility could vote between 6 pm and 8 pm at the Dean of Students’ Welfare office after producing their original TGSET hall ticket and UoH semester registration card. Special voting assistance was also available for students with disabilities.
The ballot went well beyond the three presidential candidates, Raihan, K. Naveen Kumar of the PDSU-MSF-NSUI-Fraternity alliance and Naresh Podishetti of ABVP-SLVD. Korra Nithin, Harsh Anand and Barsharani Behera were among the vice-presidential candidates, while Pratik Sagar, Muhammad Aflah K.K. and Venisa Choudhary contested for general secretary on the three alliance panels.
The joint secretary candidates on those panels were Sidhanth Saswat, Jusna and Sapthagiri. Abhinash Kumar, V.H. Afthab and Madhur Dhingra contested for cultural secretary, while Kothuri Villyamkery, Swati Sukumaran and Banoth Sai were the respective sports secretary candidates.
The general secretary contest also included candidates outside the three main panels. AIOBCSA’s Students for Social Justice backed Ch. Ratna Kumar, while BSF-HCU backed Sneha Vankudoth. BRSV-HCU did not contest the election and had announced organisational support for the ASA-AISA-DSU-SFI-TSF alliance.