Chandigarh, Sept. 4 -- For the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the race to the top wasn't easy. With many of its prominent members going with the newly formed ABVP Front, the party wasn't even at its full strength when it clinched the Panjab University's Campus Students Council president's post after nearly five decades of being active on campus. The party had come close to clinching the post many times in the past. In 2022, ABVP's Harish Gujjar had secured 2,052 votes, giving a close fight to winner Ayush Khatkar of the CYSS (2,712 votes). Many believe this is the closest the party has come to the president's seat in recent years. ABVP North Zone's organising secretary Gaurav Attri, who handled the campaign this year, said, "After last year's poor performance, we decided to focus on just the presidential seat. This year, we fielded a strong Punjabi face." Attri set up camp in PU much before the election season had started to assess the pulse of the campus. The party also worked out a shrewd alliance with NSUI rebels who had formed a new party Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and Indian National Students Organisation, which helped ABVP presidential candidate Gauravveer Sohal though the alliance partners lost. Former senator Satya Pal Jain, who contested the 1974-75 poll for general secretary's post, which he claims he won with a record number of votes, said, "It is nice to see the students have decided to align PU with the national mainstream politics. PU will soar even higher this year," he said. Davesh Moudgil, former mayor of the Chandigarh MC, who had won the joint secretary's seat on an ABVP ticket in the 1998-99 session, said, "The election result definitely shows what the students are thinking. The youth is appreciative of the work done under the PM Modi and want the same for the varsity." Other parties, meanwhile, alleged that the ABVP candidate won with the authorities' help. They alleged that professors actively campaigned for Sohal, who is also related to former senator Lajwant Virk....