After Garhwal, NSUI wins big in Assam's Dibrugarh University

The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has secured key victories in student union elections at Dibrugarh University in Assam and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal Central University in Uttarakhand.

At Dibrugarh University, NSUI-backed Dewanga Barthakur was elected president of the Post Graduate Students’ Union for 2026-27. The result came alongside a strong performance by other student organisations in the election, with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) winning several positions.

AASU-backed candidates won 11 of the 18 posts, while NSUI won four and the Asom Chatra Parishad three.

AASU-backed Partha Pratim Gohain was elected general secretary. Other AASU-backed candidates won positions including vice-president, magazine editor, fine arts and literary secretary, common room secretaries, social service secretary and general sports secretary. Three AASU-backed candidates were also elected unopposed.

The results followed a campaign in which NSUI had highlighted Barthakur’s victory as a significant achievement for the organisation.

NSUI state president Kaushik Kashyap Kalita congratulated the candidates, workers and supporters following the results.

A similar contest at Garhwal Central University in Uttarakhand also saw NSUI emerge with important victories.

At the university’s Birla Campus in Srinagar, Himanshu Bhandari of the ‘Jai Ho’ group won the president’s post with 3,301 votes, defeating ABVP’s Bhuvan Chamoli, who secured 1,796 votes.

Pulkit Agarwal of the ‘Chhatram’ group won the vice-president’s post with 2,991 votes, while NSUI’s Mayank Bahuguna was elected secretary with 2,708 votes. Aman Kuniyal won the joint secretary’s post and Ramswaroop was elected unopposed as treasurer. AISA’s Yuvraj won the university representative post, while Sunidhi Singh was elected female student representative.

At the university’s BGR Campus, NSUI dominated the elections, winning the posts of president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer, along with three of the four executive committee seats.

The Garhwal results come ahead of next year’s Uttarakhand Assembly elections. Student politics at the university has traditionally attracted political attention because of its wider links with the Garhwal region, with the latest results putting the performance of ABVP, the BJP’s student wing, under scrutiny.

The two university elections point to a competitive student political landscape, with NSUI making significant gains in campuses in both Assam and Uttarakhand.