Q.Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m from Lucknow. I come from a political family. I hadn’t planned to get into student politics in college. But during the orientation I learnt that there will be two first year hostel representatives, and thus decided to contest for it.

Q. What motivates you to contest for this post?

While making my manifesto for the SR hostel elections, I was exposed to the problems faced by BITSians. I started developing an interest in finding solutions to every problem, which encouraged me to stand for the Budh Bhavan elections in my second year. The work motivates me to contest again, this time for the post of the President.

Q. How did you go about building a camp and manifesto?

For building a camp you need efficient people who can devote time towards the campaign. We pick one person from one wing, so that if needed, they can mobilize their entire wing. They must be devoted because there have been instances in the past where the camp has just been numbers.

My manifesto has been built by observing other institutes in India like BITS Hyderabad. So majority of it are things that I felt should be implemented in BITS Pilani too.

Q. What percentage of your manifesto points do you hope to fulfil?

I’ve made 2 manifestos so far. In the SR one, I had 9 points and was able to implement 8 of them. My Budh manifesto has 10 points, and I have implemented 7 till now. The remaining 3 will also be implemented because I still have 1 month left. Since I have this track record, I promise that I will fulfill 100% of my manifesto points.

Q. What, in your opinion, is the role of SU?

The SU is not just a body to put up a manifesto and implement it. It is the voice of the students. Whatever is the need of the hour, the SU must be ready to take a stand. The SU must also implement the manifesto and handle Oasis and Apogee.

Q. How would you rate this year’s SU in terms of having done its job?

I think the President and the General Secretary couldn’t fulfill even some of their manifesto points, let alone all of them. However there were instances where they did take the lead.

Q. What do you think of the relation between SU and the insti?

Since BITS Pilani is a technical institute, we don’t have a SU which is similar to other colleges. We have an official channel through which we can get things done. We don’t have to protest in front of the Institute at any point of time.

Q. What should one seek from an ideal GenSec/President?

There are 2 things you should see for any GenSec/President. The work he has done in the past for credibility. And the vision he is setting for the future through his manifesto. The ideal GenSec/President must have a good history of getting his/her past manifesto points implemented. He/she must also have a manifesto which addresses the basic issues an average BITSian faces.

Q. What do you think of even semester elections, and how has this affected your manifesto and your campaigning strategies?

This is a good move because the freshers coming on campus had only 15 days to elect a representative for a post as big as the President. They were unaware of the work that the candidates have done. The little information they got was during the campaigning, and anyone could swing the votes of the first years. Now people can make an informed choice. I feel I’m at an advantage because of this change.

Q. Do you believe other other forms of campaigning – online, rallies, posters, sloganeering etc. should be allowed?

The BITS Pilani elections have very strict guidelines from the Election Commission. I think there is no harm in online campaigning. IIT Bombay has video campaigning, through which the candidates can portray their vision. We need this because there are 5000 students. It isn’t possible to reach out to everyone and explain our manifesto. In the past there have been rallies. The locals aren’t even aware of the elections now. So there is no harm in keeping 1 or 2 days for rallies and sloganeering.

Q. What do you think of the competition, and how confident of winning are you?

Currently, I feel that the second yearites and third yearites are more inclined towards my camp as they have seen the work I have done before.

Q. Any message for BITSians?

I want every BITSian to make an informed decision, after looking at both the manifestos and considering the past work done by both the candidates along with the vision they are putting forward.