JALUKBARI, Sept 25 - Maintaining their long-established dominance, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU)-backed candidates today swept the Post Graduate Students� Union (PGSU) election of Gauhati University, winning 10 out of 15 seats.
Candidates affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) managed to win four seats, making a history of sorts. This time, no candidate backed by the Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS) and the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU) made it to the PGSU. The results were announced this afternoon.
Anurag Kalyan Borgohain and Moon Talukdar were elected president and general secretary respectively of the student union. Anurag defeated his rival Srestah Krishnan Dutta by a margin of 211 votes. Moon beat his nearest rival Himadri Sarmah by a margin of 193 votes to become the new general secretary. While Anurag was backed by AASU, Moon was backed by ABVP. Lakhyajit Das (AASU-backed) won the vice president�s post uncontested.
The other AASU-backed candidates who emerged winners were: Trishna Barman (assistant general secretary), Nasir Miraz (boys� common room), Sagarika Kalita (girls� common room), Farny Ahmed (social service), Gitashree Borah (debate & symposia), Nabankur Saikia (minor games), Silpika Madhukalya (music) and Jubin Muktiar (major games).
The winning ABVP-backed candidates included Saurav Saha (cultural), Champak Bora (gymnasium) and Khwrwmdao Basumatary (sports).�Aprim Kumar Bora, who is the new literary secretary, won as an independent candidate.
The total voting percentage was 65 this time, which was higher than last year�s polling. Of the 3,763 students eligible to vote, only 2,445 turned up to exercise their franchise, while around 1,705 students chose the NOTA option. The highest number of NOTA votes (285) fell in the post of the boys� common room secretary, followed by that of the music secretary.
Returning Officer Prof Dwipen Bezbaruah, while talking to this correspondent, said, �This year�s election to the PGSU was very peaceful as we were able to conduct it without a single incident, thanks to all the students of Gauhati University, the teachers and all the stakeholders for their support in conducting a free, fair and peaceful election.�
