Chandigarh: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), won the post of the president to the Panjab University’s Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) for the first time in five decades.
ABVP’s Gaurav Veer Sohal, a research student of the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), won the post comfortably, defeating his nearest contender Sumit Sharma of the Students Front by a margin of over 500 votes.
The other three candidates fielded by the alliance for the position of the vice-president, the general secretary and the joint secretary, however, lost the elections.
The presidential candidate of the Congress’ student wing, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), came in third. Last year, the NSUI had clinched the vice-president’s post.
Last year, the ABVP’s presidential candidate came third. In 2023, ABVP’s Jaswinder Rana had won as joint secretary. This is the first time that the RSS and BJP-backed student organisation has won the president’s post in PU campus elections since 1977 when the first direct voting system began in the university. Before 1977, the campus student council was chosen from among department representatives.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) student wing Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) had fielded two candidates for the position of the president and the general secretary, but lost both.
In 2022, the AAP student wing, then called the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), had made history when its candidate Ayush Khatkar won the top position. Last year, its presidential candidate Prince Chaudhary came in second. For these elections, the ASAP tied up with the University Student Organisation (USO), the Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HPSU) and the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU).
Voting took place Wednesday. University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) has the most number of voters at 2,535 followed by University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) with 1,921 votes and the Department of Laws at 1,094.
BJP hails victory
Gaurav tallied 3,148 votes, while Sumit secured 2,660 votes. Sumit, a student of the department of geography, was vying for a ticket from NSUI but broke away to join the Students Front. Last year, Anurag Dalal had left the NSUI on similar grounds and contested independently and went on to bag the president’s post.
The ABVP had contested these elections in alliance with the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). The Students Front, on the other hand, had tied up with the ABVP Front, a breakaway faction of the ABVP, the Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HIMSU), the Punjab University Students Union (PUSU) and Students of Punjab University (SOPU).
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh and BJP state president Sunil Jakhar hailed the results that were widely shared in the news.
Historic Victory!
For the very first time, ABVP has created history in Panjab University!
Gauravveer Sohal has been elected as the President, marking a new beginning.
This victory is not just of one candidate, but of ideology, nationalism, and student power.
Heartiest… pic.twitter.com/A74DAHV42L
— Tarun Chugh (@tarunchughbjp) September 3, 2025
ABVP has scripted history by winning the election for the Presidentship of Punjab University Students’ Concil for the first time in 48 years. Heartiest congratulations to Gaurav Veer Sohal on becoming the President of PUSC and kudos to the entire ABVP team for this great victory.
— Sunil Jakhar (@sunilkjakhar) September 3, 2025
Senior BJP leader Vineet Joshi told ThePrint that this was a very big pointer for the coming future. “The BJP will be doing remarkably well in the Punjab assembly elections.”
The northern state will go to the polls in the first half of 2027.
The NSUI had fielded Prabhjot Singh Gill, a third-year law student as its presidential candidate. Gill came in third with 1,359 votes. ASAP’s Mankirat Mann came fourth with 1,184 votes. SOPU presidential candidate Ardas Kaur managed a little over 300 votes.
With eight candidates in fray the president’s post was the most hotly contested seat this year.
Sath’s sole candidate wins
Ashmeet Singh, a student of the University Institute of Legal Studies, won the post of the vice- president. He belongs to the student body Sath, a discussion group-turned-students union. The group takes its inspiration from human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. In 2023, the group’s Ranmeekjot Kaur had won the vice-president’s post.
Ashmeet defeated another strong candidate Naveen Kumar of the ABVP Front by 650 votes. While Ashmeet polled 3,478 votes, Naveen got 2,828 votes. Navdeep Singh Meel of the HSRA (in alliance with ABVP and INSO) tallied a little over 2,000 votes.
Abhishek Dagar of the Jashan Jawandha faction of Students of Panjab University (SOPU) was elected as the general secretary. He won with a margin of 722 votes from his nearest contender Vishesh Anand Dakha of the INSO. ASAP’s Komalpreet Kaur came third with 1735 votes.
‘Independent’ wins with NSUI support
Independent candidate Mohit Manderana won the post of the joint secretary defeating his nearest contender Aryan Verma alias Yuvi with a little over 300 votes. Mohit, a research scholar at the Department of public administration, was supported in his campaign by the NSUI. He polled 3,138 votes.
Verma was the joint candidate of the Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HPSU) and PUSU, another alliance created in collaboration with the ASAP. Verma secured 2820 votes. Siddharth Boora, representing a breakaway faction of PUSU, was the joint candidate of the Student Front and allies, came third with 2,074 votes. Sagar Khatri of the HSRA (in alliance with ABVP and INSO) was fourth with 1,093 votes.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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