Chandigarh, Aug. 27 -- With the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections fast approaching, the campus has once again come alive with political debates, alliance meets, and student-led campaigns. The polls this year are shaping up to be a high-stakes contest, with outfits like the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) vying for dominance, while homegrown parties such as SOPU and PUSU struggle with internal divisions. Left-leaning groups like PSU Lalkaar and the All India Students Association (AISA) are attempting to regain relevance on campus, even as Sath, the youngest player in the field, works to consolidate its presence despite controversies. Last year, Panjab University (PU) elections were a win and loss for the National Students Union of India (NSUI). When Rahul Nain got the ticket to contest the election for the president's post from NSUI, a disgruntled Sikander Boora and his candidate Anurag Dalal fought the election on an independent ticket. While Anurag got 3,433 votes, Rahul Nain got only 501 votes, the lowest since NSUI started contesting elections in PU. But it wasn't a total loss for NSUI then. They were able to secure the vice-president post with Archit Garg who won against Karandeep Singh of Sath by over a 1,000 votes. Garg kept NSUI in the council after Jatinder Singh. Unlike the previous councils, Garg played an active role, often going against president Dalal. He remained active in all protests throughout the year including the senate election protest and going against the protest affidavit introduced by PU this year. However, he was also the one to take the affidavit issue before the Punjab and Haryana high court which has stayed the affidavit for now, but he earned the ire of students and other parties who claim that the issue could have been resolved at the PU level. NSUI claim that they have maintained a constant appearance in the campus, and have got major policy decisions implemented, including menstrual leave, and a new constitution for PUCSC council which is currently being finalised. They have strong support from the Punjab and Haryana factions of the Congress and also from the local member of Parliament Manish Tewari who is also from the Congress. However, NSUI is infamous for its factionalism. Last year, members of NSUI were working against their party to get Dalal elected. If once again the Delhi leadership of the party picks a candidate that the local cadre doesn't like, infighting amongst the party can be expected. NSUI was relaunched in PU by Rahul Gandhi in 2012. Since then, they won the student council consecutively in 2013 and 2014. While last year's president Anurag Dalal has now been welcomed back to the NSUI party since his term ended, PUCSC president for 2023 Jatinder Singh also belongs to NSUI, having switched to the party right before the election from ABVP. It remains to be seen if NSUI can come back to the fore. People still remember the original parties of PU quite fondly. Panjab University Students' Union (PUSU), formed in 1977, and Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), founded in 1997 have shaped the political space in PU. Both of these parties have given many senior leaders to other political parties, but right now, both are facing critical problems which they must address. Right now, there are two factions which have formed in each party. In SOPU, one group has announced a general secretary candidate while the other is likely to contest on the president's seat. Both factions are quite vocal against each other and also allege that they receive threatening calls against each other. The split in PUSU happened more recently, with party president Bhupinder Singh removing three new members who had joined the party this year. The members however allege that Singh is not the party president and they will continue to work in their version of the PUSU party. A similar divide like SOPU is likely to form between these two groups, while it remains to be seen whether they contest for different seats as well. PUSU last won the president's post with Nishant Kaushal in 2016, while SOPU secured the last victory in 2012 under Satinder Singh Satti. Since Kanupriya won the PUCSC president post in the 2018-2019 session, the left parties in PU have not been able to restore their earlier glory. For the second year in a row, Students For Society (SFS) will not contest for any seat in the PUCSC elections. Kanupriya of SFS had won the PUCSC post in the 2018-19 session with a margin of 719 votes and had made a name for herself in PU with the Pinjra Todh protests aimed at opening up girls hostels of women along the lines of boys hostels. Sandeep, the current president of SFS said that there has been a disconnect between the party and the students after the Covid lockdown and the party needs a new start if it wants to come back to campus politics. PSU Lalkaar will still contest for the president post and have already announced Jobanpreet of Department of Philosophy as their candidate. This is the first time that the party has chosen to field a male candidate since 2017. PSU Lalkaar hasn't enjoyed the same success as SFS and last year their president candidate Sarah was only able to secure 221 votes, just a bit higher than NOTA which had 187 votes. All India Students Association (AISA) which has considerable presence in Delhi University and in Jawaharlal Nehru University will contest for the post of joint secretary in the PUCSC elections this time. This is the first time that the political outfit will contest the PUCSC polls, however it remains to be seen how much of an impact they make. Sath started as a study group around 2019 and first contested the PUCSC polls in 2022. They were the surprise winners for the vice-president post in 2023, with Ranmeekjot Kaur securing the win. However, Kaur was disowned by the party about a month later for allegedly not meeting properly with former member of Parliament Simranjit Singh Mann. Sath couldn't win anything in 2024. While they have fielded a strong vice-president candidate in Ashmeet Singh, the party will have to deal with the fact that they were the most vocal voice during the senate protests last year. However, insiders say that Rimaljot Singh, who was a member of the party at that time, was involved in the protest for his own personal ambition. The protest was finally defused when Sath issued a statement that "PU belongs to Punjab". While Rimaljot has since left the party, the party may benefit from raising the issue of the senate elections but is also likely to lose votes from students of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for alienating them....