After nearly two years of tumultuous student politics, Ashoka University finally has a new Student Government. On May 2, 2023, the Ashoka University Election Commission (AUEC) declared the results for the Eighth House of Representatives, bringing the 2023 election cycle to a close.
The Leher Presidential ticket came out on top, securing 47% of the valid votes. Sankalp Dasmohapatra and Tamanna Parikh have been elected President and Vice President. The Edict reached out to the pair for a comment, to which they put out the following statement:
“We would like to thank the student body for showing up in such large numbers and for entrusting us with this responsibility. We hope to serve the student body to the best of our ability and facilitate better political times during our term.”
The Presidential Election saw a turnout of around 50% of the total electorate. 15% of the valid votes were marked ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA), with only two of the four Presidential tickets (Sankalp-Tamanna, Hazim-Aditi) managing to secure more votes than NOTA.
For the Undergraduate Council, voter turnout was even higher at 53% of the total electorate. All candidates managed to cross the 10% threshold of votes (119 votes). 17% of the UG Council votes have been marked NOTA.
The highest proportion of votes was secured by Sankalp, with nearly 45%; since he has taken office as President, Prachet Sinha was given his seat as the next eligible candidate.
10 out of the 15 UG Council seats have been secured by UG’25, while the remaining 5 seats go to UG’24. Further, Leher has won 60% of the seats, while the remaining 40% goes to independent candidates.
While Navya Asopa, Domil Antony Johnson, and Rutupurna Debalina Naik were unsuccessful in the Presidential Elections, they each secured a seat in the UG Council.
Anshika Mittal was the sole candidate in the Master’s Council Election, winning 92% of the votes, with the rest going to NOTA. Since 4 of the 5 seats in the Council remain vacant, the AUEC will “form a special committee to determine whether a re-election is required” as mentioned in their email to the student body. This, along with re-election for the PhD Council, will occur according to a “ special timeline decided by the AUEC”.
Although the election process was different in the previous year, it is notable that voter turnout has increased from 38.5% in 2022 to roughly 50% in all three electorates in 2023. The 2023 Student Government elections have marked a drastic shift from those in 2022; it remains to be seen whether this serves as the beginning of a more active political culture on campus as well.
The Edict has covered the 2023 SG Elections extensively, through our articles on the website as well as on Twitter.