Chandigarh, August 31: The Student Organisation of India (SOI), the student wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has extended its support to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) elections.
The alliance between SOI and ABVP was announced on Sunday, a day before polling for the PUCSC elections began at 9:30 am on Monday. The development comes ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled to be held next year.
According to ABVP, the decision followed the rejection of the nomination papers of the SOI candidate, preventing the student organisation from contesting the election directly. SOI has consequently extended its support to the ABVP-led alliance.
Polling began at 9:30 am, while ballot boxes for the office-bearer posts were scheduled to be collected from the Returning Officers on the ground floor of the respective blocks after polling in the departments. The boxes will be transported to the Gymnasium Hall by the Dean Students Welfare (DSW) staff and wardens.
The results for Departmental Representatives (DRs) will be displayed in the respective departments from 12 noon, while counting for the office-bearer posts and declaration of results will take place at the Gymnasium Hall.
Security arrangements have also been strengthened across the university campus. Authorities are conducting checks at all three entry gates, with vehicles and visitors being screened to regulate the movement of outsiders and maintain law and order during the election process.
The SOI-ABVP understanding comes days after senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said that people in Punjab wanted the SAD and BJP to come together again.
Speaking to Media on August 21, Majithia referred to the previous political alliance between the SAD and BJP and said the partnership had been strengthened during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and continued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure.
Majithia said the two parties had separated over the Centre’s farm laws but added that Punjab’s status as a border state and concerns over social harmony and the state’s social fabric had contributed to calls for their reunion.
The SAD and BJP ended their alliance in 2020 after the Akali Dal withdrew from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance over the Centre’s farm laws.
The latest understanding between the student wings of the two parties in the PUCSC elections is being viewed in the context of the broader political relationship between the SAD and BJP ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls.