National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) candidate Shantanu Sekhar celebrates after winning the president post in the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) elections during the counting of votes at the Art College, in Patna, Sunday, March 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
In a late-night declaration of results by the Patna University Students Union (PUSU) on Saturday (February 28, 2026), the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, held the fort after a long time, winning the posts of president and general secretary.
The BJP’s students wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) bagged the posts of joint secretary and Treasurer.
The voting percentage, though, was abysmally low this time with 37.84% while in last (2025) it was 45.25%. There were some stray incidents of violence and firing inside the campus on the poll day, though, there was police deployment in the campus to conduct the poll peacefully.
“It was due to following the strict guidelines for the poll and students’ disinterest, dull and docile approach towards campus election, the voting percentage dipped by almost 7% this time”, the chief election officer and professor of Patna Science College, Shankar Kumar told The Hindu.
In 1980 the NSUI candidate Anil Sharma and in 1984 Shambhu Sharma had won the post of university presidents respectively.
The NSUI candidate Shantanu Shekhar and Khushi Kumari bagged the posts of president and general secretary on Saturday (February 28, 2026) after a long time. “Though the elections were not held on the political party’s line, but it’s time for the BJP to introspect as the party is in power in the state in coalition with other parties and has all the MLAs of Patna town area”, said senior journalist of Patna Manish Kumar.
In the ruling NDA, the BJP along with JD-U and other allies is in power in Bihar and earlier, its several-time young party MLA from Bankipore constituency of Patna Nitin Nabin has been taking keen interest in the PUSU election.
Mr. Nabin, 45, this year in January 2026 was elected as party’s national president.
Earlier, several known political personalities of the State had bagged prestigious posts of Patna University Students’ Union. Former Chief Minister and president of Rashtriya Janata Dal Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Deputy Chief Minister and senior state BJP leader late Sushil Kumar Modi and former Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad were elected as PUSU president, general secretary and assistant general secretary respectively of PUSU in 1973.
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader of the State, Ashwani Kumar Choubey, was also elected as president of the PUSU in 1978.
The NSUI candidates for the post of PUSU president and general secretary Shantanu Shekhar this time defeated nearest rival from JD-U Prince Kumar by 1496 votes while, Khushi Kumari defeated her rival from Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal Pratyush Raj by 553 votes.
However, ABVP’s Abhishek Kumar and Harshvardhan won for the posts of Joint Secretary and Treasurer defeating NSUI and JD-U candidates respectively.
The voting percentage has been highest in Patna Law College (50.66%) and Patna Science College (45.7%) respectively while, the lowest percentage were reported from B. N. College (21.2%) and Magadh Mahila College (21.72%) respectively.
For the first time, the girl Independent candidate Shifat Faiz won the post of vice-president of the Union defeating JD-U candidate Ayush Harsh by 71 votes.
While congratulating the wining candidates, senior state Congress leader and former party MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said, “the winning of NSUI candidates for the posts of President and General Secretary reflects Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s thoughts”. Party state spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari too congratulated the winning candidates and said, “the result shows the true mood of the youth of the state”.
Published – March 01, 2026 11:30 am IST
