New Delhi: The filing of nominations for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) elections began on Friday with the final list of contesting candidates slated to be released on March 16.

The left student outfits have shortlisted four probable candidates for the post of president which includes Students' Federation of India (SFI) candidate Umesh Kumar Yadav, Democratic Students' Federation’s (DSF) Anagha Pradeep and Swati Singh, and Dhananjay of All India Students' Association (AISA), according to representatives of the students outfits.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will field around 12 candidates for president's post including -- Umesh Chandra Ajmira, Arjun Anand, Govind Dangi, Deepika Sharma, Manjul Pawar, Medha Singh, Unnati Panjikar, AS Stalin, Kanishk Gaur, Abhishek Singh, Akash Kumar Ravani and Kavya Pal.

Among these names, the final four names will be selected to become JNUSU office bearers, ABVP said in a statement.

From the Congress-affiliated students outfit National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Kunal Kumar, Shudhandhu Shekhar or Farheen Zaidi may run up for the post, members of the outfit told PTI.

The filing of the nominations will continue till 5 pm today following which the final list of eligible candidates will be displayed on Saturday.

The JNUSU elections are being held after a gap of four years. The elections were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and could not be conducted thereafter.

The last JNUSU election was won by left backed SFI candidate Aishe Ghosh in 2019.

The left students outfits had formed an alliance to contest in the 2019 polls under the banner The United-Left alliance which included a coalition of AISA, SFI, DSF, and AISF.

This year as well, the left students outfits are likely to form an alliance to contest in the JNUSU polls and mutually decide the presidential candidate.