With the Students’ Union (SU) Elections 2026-27 around the corner, the English Press Club (EPC) sat down with General Secretary candidate Kushal Poosala for a short interview.

Kushal is a third-year student from Chennai pursuing a Master’s in Chemistry along with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Explaining his decision to contest for the post of General Secretary, Kushal said he felt that the working of the SU had deteriorated over the past year and that he would like to restore the trust and sense of responsibility currently missing from the Union.

Addressing his immediate plan of action if elected, he spoke about normalising PS grade allotment across all campuses, introducing Nescafe coffee kiosks, and installing water softeners. Moving on to his manifesto points, he elaborated that he wanted to add a plethora of ideas, with his initial manifesto running about two pages, but that he was forced to shorten it down. He added that in the finalised version of his manifesto, his key points included removing disparity in the hostel fees, in addition to making the SWD portal more transparent, with it showing each transaction in a detailed manner. He also wished to champion the cause of higher degree students by removing the rule which restricts them from joining any club on campus.

Kushal stated that the students were not properly represented in the current system and their ‘freedom was being snatched away.’ He justified that a good leader must be able to stand up for people and believed that his creativity and innovation would set him apart from other candidates. Kushal mentioned that before contesting for the post of GenSec, he had been appointed Secretary of Audiforce and was serving as Joint Secretary of the Andhra Samiti. He said that these leadership roles were important in shaping his ideology as a candidate and helped him relate to people. Previously, as part of the Students’ Union Executive Committee, he was involved in the smooth functioning of the SU Suit Service, and he revamped Bites, a CNot food delivery platform.

 Kushal expressed that spending most of the SU’s time and resources on fest planning was a flawed approach, and that the majority of it should instead be focused on everyday problems encountered by students. Expanding on his point of making the SU more accountable, he aimed to implement a strict system of follow-through. A proper transcript of all meetings and MOMs would be made available for the GBM according to his proposal.

Concluding the interview, Kushal mentioned that he was an apt candidate since he had already worked in the Students’ Union. He believed he would do justice to the job and that everyone could trust him. He said that he was always open to a chat or a meeting, and that any student could rely on and count on him to make the campus a better place.