Indian-origin Anvee Bhutani (Human Sciences student from Magdalen College) has won the presidential by-election at Oxford Student Union, after the resignation of Indian student Rashmi Samant, who was forced to step down soon after her election to the post amid a row over her past social media posts.
Anvee Bhutani is the Co-Chair Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) at Oxford SU and President of the Oxford India Society. She was declared the winner on Thursday night after a record turnout.
"Use suggestions from student campaigns to work with initiatives like the Oxford and Colonialism hub to push for a more diverse curriculum. Lobby for more funding towards existing mental health support programs including for graduate students; work towards more access and lower wait times for university counselling services,” her winning manifesto read.
According to the student newspaper, the voting had the highest-ever turnout for a byelection and has also beaten the overall turnout for several past annual leadership elections as 2,506 people turned out to vote, a 146 per cent increase from the last byelection in 2019.
