Chandigarh: As youth protests brought thousands to Delhi’s Jantar Mantar this summer and put examinations, education and institutional accountability back at the centre of public debate, organised Left student groups found themselves in a renewed national political moment. AISA, SFI and other Left organisations joined and sought to build on a largely youth-driven mobilisation that extended beyond traditional student-union politics.At Panjab University, however, the Aug 31 student election is telling a rather different story. SFI, SFS and PSU Lalkaar — all once active on the PU electoral ground — are absent from this year’s four-post PUCSC contest. AISA is the only Left organisation in the race, making its maiden appearance and fielding candidates for vice-president and joint secretary.The contrast is striking. At a time when the Jantar Mantar protests and subsequent student mobilisations have reopened a national conversation around the political power of young people and offered the Left a chance to reconnect with concerns around examinations, jobs, access to education and institutional accountability, the broader Left has barely any electoral footprint at one of north India’s most politically watched campuses.SFI last fielded a presidential candidate at PU in 2017, when research scholar Davinder Singh entered the fray. Its last central council candidate came in 2019, when Shabana Ansari contested the vice-president’s post and secured around 1,600 votes. The organisation has since been absent from the PU electoral landscape.SFS, established on campus in 2010, last contested the council elections in 2022. It remains the organisation behind one of the more remarkable moments in PUCSC history: Kanupriya’s victory in 2018, which made her the first and, so far, only woman to be elected PUCSC president.PSU Lalkaar’s absence is more recent, and perhaps more conspicuous. The organisation began building its presence at PU in 2014 and entered the election arena in 2018. It fielded candidates in every election thereafter. This year is the first break in that run.Its leader Jobanpreet, who contested the presidential election last year, said staying off the ballot did not mean PSU Lalkaar was withdrawing from campus politics. “We are working on the ground to build momentum,” he said, adding that the organisation had begun a movement against rising fees and would take it forward.He also argued that the PUCSC polls were not necessarily a mirror of what students felt, saying elections were heavily influenced by money and muscle power.Former SFI chairperson Rajinder Dhot attributed the organisation’s retreat partly to the unequal resources available in PU elections. “One of the main reasons is the lack of resources. PU elections have become very expensive, and it is difficult for smaller organisations to compete with the money and muscle power of mainstream political parties,” he said.He said the nature of the contest itself had changed over the years. “Elections at PU have now become more individualistic than party-based. We have seen people shift from one party to another and still win elections. Earlier, organisations and their ideology mattered much more. Today, the individual often becomes bigger than the party,” Dhot said.AISA leader Ayush Shrivastava said the reduced electoral presence of the Left should not automatically be read as a rejection of Left politics by students. The challenge, he said, was for organisations to remain connected to everyday student concerns like fees, examinations, scholarships, hostels and access to education rather than assume ideological identification would translate into support.Another Left leader, speaking anonymously, pointed to difficulties within the broader Left as well, including internal disagreements and tensions with senior leadership that had weakened organisational work on campuses.For AISA, Aug 31 is a beginning after its nomination was rejected last year. For the broader Left at PU, it is an unusually thin ballot.That is the paradox confronting the Left this election season. Nationally, a youth movement has again created space for the issues and protest politics it has long championed. At PU, three organisations that once carried different shades of that politics are off the ballot, leaving one newcomer and two candidates to represent the entire Left in the four-post race.BOX: From regular contestants to election absenteesSFI: Once an active electoral force at PU, SFI last contested the presidential post in 2017 through research scholar Davinder Singh. Its last central council candidate was Shabana Ansari, who contested for vice-president in 2019 and polled around 1,600 votes.SFS: On the PU campus since 2010, SFS last contested the central council elections in 2022. Its biggest electoral moment came in 2018, when Kanupriya became PU’s first and only woman president.PSU Lalkaar: The organisation began working at PU in 2014 and first contested in 2018. It fielded candidates in every election thereafter, making 2026 its first election off the ballot.AISA: The only Left organisation contesting this year, AISA is making its maiden PUCSC appearance with candidates for vice-president and joint secretary after its nomination was rejected last year.
