Avinash Kumar Yadav of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha was elected to the president's post.
The student-body of the Samajwadi Party has reclaimed the socialist-Leftist bastion, the student's union of the Allahabad University, beating the two-time winner Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP. The Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha won four of the 5 seats, including that of the President and Vice President -- a result which party chief Akhilesh Yadav dubbed a victory of "socialist ideology and secularism".
Avinash Kumar Yadav of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha, who was elected to the president's post, beat his nearest opponent Mrityunjay Rao, an Independent candidate, by 552 votes.
The BJP-linked ABVP won one seat - that of the general secretary. The results reflected a loss of ground for the ABVP, which had been on a winning streak for the last two years.
In 2015, the student body affiliated to the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, won four posts barring that of the president.
Last year, ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, it got two seats, including the top post. The BJP had won the election with a thumping mandate, sweeping out the Samajwadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav.
The ABVP had also taken a beating in the recently held elections at the Delhi University. From the three posts it held in the outgoing panel, the students' body went down to two seats in the election held in September.
Today, congratulating the newly elected office bearers of Allahabad University, Akhilesh Yadav said, It is a victory of socialist ideology and secularism. It gives a message that the interests of students cannot be ignored. Due to the faulty policies of the BJP, there is resentment among the youth".
Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said the young people of the state consider Mr Yadav their icon due to the welfare and developmental schemes he launched. In the coming elections, they "will in future help SP in defeating communal forces like the BJP".