The United Left Alliance on Saturday retained all four seats in the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union elections, defeating the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, PTI reported. United Left candidate Geeta Kumari won the president’s post by defeating the ABVP’s Nidhi Tripathi by 464 votes.

All India Students Association member Simone Zoya Khan won the vice-president’s post, securing 1,876 votes. The ABVP’s Durgesh Kumar finished second with 1,028 votes. Duggirala Srikrisha, a Left candidate, won the general secretary’s post by polling 2,082 votes, against the ABVP’s Nikunj Makwana with 975 votes. Shubhanshu Singh, another Left candidate, won the joint secretary’s post by securing 1,755 votes.

The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association stood third in all four elections. Its candidate Shabana Ali contending for the president’s post received 935 votes. A total of 1,512 votes case were in the None of the Above category, PTI reported.

“The credit for the mandate goes to students, because people still believe that democratic spaces should be saved and right now, the only resistance is from students,” Kumari said on her victory. She said the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed will be their key focus, among other matters.

Duggirala claimed that the JNU had become more democratic as a result of the Left’s victory. “We promise to reach out to students everyday and counter the aggressive policies of the ABVP”.