All the four posts of office-bearers were bagged by SOPU-ABVP alliance, as it defeated it's rival alliance of Panjab University Students Union, Haryana Students Association, National Students Union of India and Student Federation of India, (PUSU-HSA-NSUI-SFI), supported by the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF).

SOPU president and council president for the previous term Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa was elected the president of the council winning 1,518 votes. He defeated Bhupinder Singh Bhuppi, the presidential candidate fielded by PUSU-HSA-NSUI-SFI alliance, by a margin of 142 votes. Only 12 votes were secured by Bhupinder Singh, the independent presidential candidate. As many as 38 of the total votes cast were declared invalid.

For the post of vice-president, Samriti Sharma, a SOPU-ABVP candidate, defeated her opponent Shivani Solanki of the PUSU-HSA-NSUI-SFI alliance, by 100 votes; 58 were declared invalid. For the post of secretary, Praneet Garewal defeated Mohan Singh by 616 votes; 66 votes were declared invalid. For the post of joint secretary, Davesh Moudgil defeated Harjodh Singh Harry by a total of 265 votes; 79 were declared invalid of the total votes cast. Of a total of 4,750 votes, 2,944 were cast during the elections.

SOPU-ABVP activists had brought a dhol much before the final results were prepared. As soon as Randhawa's lead was established and Bhuppi was charted out by the polling agents, victory processions did the round of the campus.

When Dean Student Welfare V.K. Bansal formally announced the results at around 3.30 p.m., the supporters of SOPU-ABVP cheered resonantly. They took out a victory procession, camped in open jeeps and raising slogans in praise of Randhawa. Later, a garlanded Randhawa made a round of hostels to thank his supporters.

The activists of PUSU-HSA-NSUI-SFI, however, raised an objection to counting in the Law Department. The matter was reported to the DSW, who immediately called a meeting of the election tribunal. However, no discrepancy was found in the recounting.

Later, the 62 elected departmental representatives unanimously elected five persons to constitute the Executive Council. These are: Amarjeet Singh from Biochemistry Department, Bhupinder Singh from History Department, Harpreet Kaur from Mathematics Department, Hitesh Kaplish from Law Department and Mansi Gautam from B. Pharm.

Meanwhile, following are the results of the elections to the Students' Council of the Department of Evening Studies Panjab University: Raj Nath of BA (I) was elected to the post of president, Anil Bishnoi of MA (I) to the post of vice-president and Sukhbir Singh of BA (II) to the post of joint secretary. No nominations were filed for the post of secretary.

`Regionalism card to blame'
PUSU Chairman Gurwinder Singh Garewal today attributed the defeat of their alliance to the propagation of "regionalism" by the rival alliance in securing the votes. Talking to mediapersons, Garewal said: "The students failed to notice the element of violence connected with the rival alliance. They were taken in by regionalism and overlooked our fight against non-violence."