Chandigarh, August 24: For the first time in its history, the Students Organisation of India (SOI), the student wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal, has chosen a woman candidate to contest the presidential election for the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC).
SOI announced that Seerat, a student of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), will be its nominee for the top post in the upcoming polls. UIET, the largest department at PU, carries a significant number of votes in the elections.
Last year, SOI had fielded Tarun Sidhu from the same department, but his campaign failed to make much impact. Unlike Sidhu, who had switched from the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti shortly before the elections, Seerat is a long-time party worker. Party leaders described the choice as a deliberate shift from parachute candidates to promoting grassroots members.
“All senior members had seen Seerat working hard over the past three years,” said SOI election in-charge Harkamal Singh Bhuregill. “She had joined SOI in the first year of her bachelor’s course and has no political background. The party cadre will be more motivated to campaign for one of our own.”
Seerat is the second candidate to be declared so far. On Friday, Punjab Students Union (PSU) Lalkaar named Jobanpreet from the Department of Philosophy as its presidential choice. The decision marked a departure from PSU Lalkaar’s recent practice of fielding women candidates; the outfit had consistently nominated female candidates in every election since 2017. Leaders said Joban’s selection was based on his active work for the party over the past year.
With the presidential race taking shape, observers noted that both parties have adjusted their strategies this year—SOI by nominating its first woman candidate and PSU Lalkaar by breaking from its tradition of fielding women.
