Chandigarh, Aug. 24 -- Panjab University is set to start the filing of nominations for Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections from Monday, all student parties will test their mettle for the PUCSC presidential seat. With upcoming assembly elections coming up in Punjab, and even the municipal corporation (MC) council elections scheduled later this year, the student elections become even more important. Students are wondering if Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will be able to repeat their last year's performance and win. ABVP has had a long presence at PU, with current political leaders like Satyapal Jain and Saurabh Joshi contesting student polls in the 1980s. It is the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, it was only in 2025 that they were able to win the elections under Gauravveer Sohal. The attention has been now shifted to another candidate, Gaurav Attri, who is ABVP North Zone's organising secretary. He is credited with engineering ABVP's win last year and has remained a familiar face on campus since then. However it will not be as easy as last year, with all other parties uniting against ABVP and with the recent student protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi also making some students reconsider if they want to vote for ABVP. Sohal's term has been lacklustre without much to show for ABVP's first term as PUCSC president. The student wing of Congress has a point to prove, after not being able to win the presidential seat in PUCSC for two years in a row. The last PUCSC president from NSUI, Jatinder Singh is also involved in the campaigning. This year, NSUI has been able to reconcile with its breakaway faction, Student Front which had formed in 2024 and won the election with Anurag Dalal and was allegedly denied a ticket by NSUI. Further, last year after ABVP, Sumit Sharma of Student Front was the second in the race for post of president while Prabjot Singh Gill of NSUI was third. With their votes combined this year, NSUI has put forward a serious claim to the PUCSC presidential chair, but it remains to be seen if this bonhomie between factions will continue till the election date. NSUI was relaunched in PU by Rahul Gandhi in 2012. Since then, they are the only party to have won the student council consecutively in 2013 and 2014. ASAP, previously known as Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), has remained on a downward trajectory. They had first contested elections in 2022 in which they won with Aayush Khatkar as the PUCSC president. In 2023 and 2024, they came second and were in close contest, however last year under Mankirat Singh Mann the party was placed at fourth out of eight. Since then, the party was rarely seen on campus and many were uncertain if they would even contest the elections this year. However the Aam Aadmi Party have assigned member of parliament (MP) Meet Hayer as the election incharge of the party's campaign. Party insiders claim that this shows the intent of the parent party as Hayer is known for being the strategist behind many poll wins of AAP. Being the student wing of Punjab government, ASAP will have to give an explanation to students regarding pending payment for hostels and other projects that Punjab has to make to PU. A bad performance by them could show AAP in a bad light before the Punjab assembly polls. Student Organisation of India (SOI) had the president of the student council back in 2019 when Chetan Chaudhary won against Paras Rattan of ABVP. Since then, the party has failed to make much of a dent when it comes to the presidential race. Seerat who had contested from the party's ticket had secured 422 votes. This year with the formation of Panjab University Democratic Front out of allegedly disgruntled members of the party, SOI's fight might be both internal as well as external as the party tries to re-establish the dominance it had enjoyed in the PUCSC polls in previous decades. Sath which started as a study group around 2019 have won the vice-president seat of PUCSC two times in the last three years. However, this is the first time since 2022 when the party will fight for the presidential seat. The party will bank on the social media success that former vice-president Ashmeet Singh Mann has garnered over the past year. Their candidate this year Darshpreet Singh believes that people follow the message of the party and they will now look to repeat last year's success but on a bigger scale with the PUCSC president seat in mind. Sath uses the picture of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on their campaign posters. With the release of the movie Satluj which showcased a part of his life, Sath will be looking to bank on the public sentiment created by the movie. INSO has maintained a strong hold on the general secretary post in the PUCSC elections, winning it consecutively for three years but losing out on it last year. The student wing of the Jannayak Janta Party, the party targets the increasing number of students of Haryana in PU and are known to form smart alliances with other parties for other seats before the elections. It remains to be seen if they will create an impact this year as seen in some of their previous campaigns. Known for distributing KitKats to the students, they have also made other gestures like donating washing machines to hostels, smartly before the poll code of conduct was put into place. Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) had made a step towards its revitalisation by winning the general secretary seat under Abhishek Dagar last year. However after shots were fired against his backer and SOPU leader Jashan Jawandha inside PU campus, the party has again lost direction. The winning faction of SOPU now remains invisible on campus, while SOPU has said that they will put forward a candidate in the elections, it remains to be seen whether they will create as much as an impact without the backing of Jashan who is now not active in student politics. Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) also has internal politics with two factions going against each other as per senior leader Bhupinder Singh. 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 presidential post in the 2018-2019 session, the left parties in PU have not been able to restore their earlier glory. Students For Society (SFS) has not contested for any seat in the PUCSC elections since 2024 while PSU Lalkaar have also not made much of an impact with Jobanpreet Singh securing 198 votes last year, just 10 more than NOTA. The All India Students Association (AISA) which remains in power in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi is set to contest the PUCSC polls this year. They were supposed to contest the polls last year as well, but their candidate was unable to clear the eligibility conditions as per Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines for attendance....