Winners’ plan of action: start work immediately

After all the hullabuloo of the students’ body poll on the previous day, the MS University campus displayed a studied calm on Wednesday with it being a holiday. Only campaign cards, flowers, banners and posters were seen scattered all around the varsity, and newly elected vice-president Pooja Kamath has promised that cleaning up the campus would be her primary task.

After polling on Tuesday, the National Students Union of India (NSUI)’s Jaha Desai defeated Kunal Patel (ABVP) to become the university general-secretary, while the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s Pooja Kamath managed to gather more votes than her rivals Priti Yadav (NSUI) and Renu Rajput of the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) to win the post of vice-president.

Kamath, said that her technology background was what helped her win. On Tuesday itself it was predicted that she would win after a good voter turnout in the Faculties of Technology and Engineering and the Polytechnic College, which are known ABVP strongholds. ‘‘My technology background was what helped me win. Also, the tutoring I received in school in speaking helped a lot,’’ she said.

Kamath said that cleanliness was on her priority after the elections. ‘‘We are the ones who dirtied the campus with all our campaigning. I will make sure the campus is cleaned,’’ she said. She added that academic changes in the Faculty of Commerce was also very important as it was the largest faculty and the most neglected.

Speaking about her loss to Kamath, NSUI’s Priti Yadav said that her only disadvantage was her parent faculty, Home Science. She said, ‘‘In the Faculty of Home Science, the voter turnout was only 22 per cent, while Pooja had a massive lead from the Faculty of Technology alone.’’