Last update:
When the JNUSU election results were announced on Thursday, the Left unity retained its stronghold with a clean sweep
Aditi Mishra (President, SFI), K Gopika (Vice President, SFI), Sunil Yadav (General Secretary, DSF) and Danish Ali (Joint Secretary, AISA) of Left Unity Aditi Mishra (SFI President) celebrate their victory in the JNUSU elections in New Delhi on November 6, 2025 (Image: PTI)
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) presidents’ favorite activities remain activism, academics and politics. From the late Sitaram Yechury to Kanhaiya Kumar and Ayesha Ghosh, the tradition of turning campus leadership into public life continues to define JNU’s political culture.
When the JNUSU election results were declared on Thursday, the Left Unity retained its stronghold with a clean sweep. The All India Students’ Association (AISA), the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) won all four seats and Aditi Mishra was elected president with a margin of 449 votes. Outgoing President Nitish Kumar was also with AISA.
A significant part of the presidents elected in the last couple of years, who did not go into politics, went into academics. Geeta Kumari, elected in 2017-18, is a research fellow in the History Sector Policy Group of the India International Centre. N. Sai Balaji was the President of JNUSU during 2018-2019. and served as Associate Professor of Political Science from January 2024. At the same time, he served as the National President of AISA during 2019-23.
Those who have joined mainstream politics
Yechury, who served as JNUSU president in 1977-78, was one of the most prominent names that come up when one talks about JNUSU presidents entering mainstream politics.
The latest on the list is Dhananjay, the first Dalit president of JNUSU who held the post in 2023-24. Just a couple of months after his election, the man has already started his journey to the Bihar state assembly. He is contesting the Bihar state assembly election on the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation of India [CPI(ML) Liberation] ticket from Bhor constituency in Gopalganj. The party won 20 seats as part of the INDIA — Mahagatbandhan block. Dananjai’s fate will be known on November 14, the day of counting of votes.
Before him, it was Ayesha Ghosh who served as JNUSU President from 2019 to 2023. She was elected in 2019 and continued to hold the position as elections did not take place due to Covid-related restrictions. Currently serving as the state secretary of SFI Delhi, Ghosh has tried her luck in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections as the CPI(M) candidate from Jamuria.
The election of Kanhaiya Kumar as JNUSU President and subsequent events in 2015-16 marked a turning point in JNU campus politics. His arrest, controversy and sedition case made him popular. He is now fully engaged in politics and is the president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Congress.
He started his political journey with the Communist Party of India. The party also made him contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai Bihar. He lost the election. In 2021, he switched to Congress.
From the corridors of JNU to the streets of electoral politics and classrooms across the country, the journey of its student leaders highlights how the campus continues to nurture a public voice. Mishra’s victory extended the left’s long hold on campus — and, like many of her predecessors, she assumes a role that has often served as a springboard to activism, academia and politics.
Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has almost seven years of experience in the media. She tweets @nived…More details
Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has almost seven years of experience in the media. She tweets @nived… More details
Nov 07, 2025 10:05 PM IST
More details
