It’s official, the 2024 KSA General Election results are out
Only 6.9 per cent of KPU students voted, with one candidate disqualified and seven complaints filed to the CRO
The newly elected representatives come from each faculty, campus and represent different underrepresented groups. (Abby Luciano)
The official results for the Kwantlen Student Association’s General Election were published on March 13. Voting took place from Feb.13 to 15 across all Kwantlen Polytechnic University campuses, in-person only. Out of the 19,765 KPU student population, 1,367 or 6.9 per cent of students voted, a lower turnout compared to last year, when 15.7 per cent of students voted.
As published in the election results, 66 students ran in this year’s election and 22 were elected. The official results are the same as the preliminary election results published on Feb. 21, meaning no elected candidates were disqualified.
Elected students will start their term on April 1 and sit on council until March 31, 2025. There was one position per campus representatives and constituency representatives available. Three positions were available for faculty of arts representatives, five for faculty of business representatives, one for a design representative, and two for faculty of science and horticulture representatives.
For the campus representatives, Abhijeet Singh was elected as Civic Plaza campus rep, Yashanpreet Guron as Cloverdale campus rep, Nitin Aggarwal as Richmond campus rep, Simranjeet Singh as Surrey campus rep, and Jashanpreet Singh Sekhon as Langley campus rep.
For the constituency representatives, Paramvir Singh Johal was elected as international students rep, Jaskaran Sohal as mature students rep, Arnav as queer students rep, Ishant Goyal as students of colour rep, Lesli Sangha as students with disabilities rep, and Suhana Gill as women’s rep.
For faculty representatives, Yugveer Gill, Jasmine Kaur Kochhar, and Dishika Gour were elected as faculty of arts reps, Simranjot Sekhon, Yuvraj Bains, Nishant Kapoor, Keerat Goyal, and Pala were elected as business reps, Levi Okrah was elected as design rep, and Bhoomika Seera and Ranveer Singh were elected as science and horticulture reps.
Seven complaints were made to Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Sameer Ismail. Reasons for why people filed a complaint included slating, campaigning in classrooms, campaigning outside of the campaign period, treating, or bribery, harassment and intimidation. Ismail dismissed six of the seven complaints due to the complainant not being able to provide proof or Ismail deciding he lacked the authority to hear the complaint.
The one complaint that was upheld is in regard to the candidate for students of colour representative Adebayo Adenuga for allegedly exceeding the campaign-spending limit, campaigning outside the campaign period, and treating, as reported by Gurjapandeep Singh, a member of the KPU community.
While Ismail decided that Gurjapandeep failed to provide evidence in regard to Adenuga allegedly exceeding the campaign-spending limit, proof of campaigning outside the campaign period and treating was provided. Adenuga pleaded that “while the evidence submitted by the Complainant was genuine, Respondent’s remarks were mere jokes and not to be taken seriously,” reads the decision.
Ismail disqualified Adenuga on Feb. 9 from the 2023 General Elections, a decision Adenuga had the right to appeal by 4:00 pm the next day. This was the only disqualification to happen this election period, a contrast from the 19 candidates disqualified last year during the 2023 General Elections.
The Runner tried to reach out to Adenuga for a comment but did not hear back before publication time. For more information about the official KSA 2024 General Election results, visit kusa.ca/2024electionresults/.
