Rutgers People's Party wins majority of seats in spring 2021 RUSA elections

In the Rutgers University Student Assembly's spring 2021 elections, the Rutgers People’s Party ticket won the University-wide positions of president, vice president and treasurer, as well as a majority of school-specific positions.

The elections ran from March 29 to April 4 and featured one other student ticket in addition to the Rutgers People's Party, IGKNIGHT RU. The official results, dated April 16, were released by the Assembly Elections Committee today.

For the presidential election, Gavin Mayes, a School of Arts and Sciences junior running with the Rutgers People's Party, received 951 votes for students’ first choice candidate. Bilal Yousuf Ahmed, the IGKNIGHT RU candidate and a School of Arts and Sciences junior, received 813 votes. There were 126 students that abstained from choosing a first choice candidate.

In the election for vice president, Nikhil Sadaranganey, the Rutgers People’s Party candidate and a School of Arts and Sciences junior, received 933 votes for students’ first choice candidate, while Nina Gohel, the IGKNIGHT RU candidate and a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, received 808 votes. There were 123 students that abstained from choosing a first choice candidate.

Additionally, for the position of Assembly treasurer, Adnan Akbar, the Rutgers People’s Party candidate and a Rutgers Business School junior, received 955 votes for students’ first choice candidate, while Shaun Hsueh, the IGKNIGHT RU candidate and a Rutgers Business School sophomore, received 628 votes. 

Another candidate, Nashmah Mamoon, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year, ran for treasurer with no ticket and received 165 votes for students’ first choice candidate. There were 116 students that abstained from choosing a first choice candidate for treasurer.

The Rutgers People’s Party candidates will now hold 10 out of 13 School of Arts and Sciences Senator positions, 2 out of 3 Class of 2022 representative positions, 1 out of 3 Class of 2023 representative positions and all three of the Class of 2024 representative positions. 

In addition, they will also hold 3 out of 5 Rutgers Business School representative positions and 2 out of 4 School of Engineering representative positions, as well as both lone representative positions for the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and the School of Communication and Information, respectively. 

IGKNIGHT RU candidates will hold all three School of Environmental and Biological Sciences representative positions and the only representative position for the Mason Gross School of the Arts. The Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy’s sole representative position will be held by a student who ran with no ticket.

The Rutgers People’s Party’s platform revolved around main policy areas including infrastructure, mental health, student voice, transparency and recovery, with the central goal of making Rutgers feel more like a home, The Daily Targum previously reported.