Five Tickets to Run in UC Presidential Election

Five tickets will vie for the Undergraduate Council presidency and vice presidency in the council’s November election, UC Election Commission Chair Perry M. Arrasmith ’20 wrote in an email Tuesday.

The pairs of students running to be the council’s next president and vice president, respectively, are Aditya A. Dhar ’21 and Andrew W. Liang ’21, Prashanth “PK” Kumar ’21 and Michael O. Raji ’22, M. Thorwald “Thor” Larson ’21 and Case McKinley ’21, James A. Mathew ’21 and Ifeoma E. White-Thorpe ’21, and Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 and Rushi A. Patel ’21.

This year’s UC presidential election will be the most competitive in the past several years. Four tickets ran in last year’s election, while three tickets ran two years ago.

Three of the five pairs include current UC members.

Mahajan has represented Mather House since her sophomore fall and currently chairs the council’s Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee. Patel — Mahajan’s running mate — represents Quincy House and has served on the council since his freshman fall.

Lowell House representative Larson and his running mate, Dunster House representative McKinley, both joined the council this semester. Larson is the vice chair of the council’s Finance Committee, and McKinley is the vice chair of the Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee.

Mathew is an appointed member of the executive cabinet of current UC President Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 and Vice President Julia M. Huesa ’20, according to Huesa, though he is not a council member. Mathew’s running mate, Leverett House representative White-Thorpe, has served on the council since her freshman year.

Neither Dhar and Liang — a Crimson business associate — nor Kumar and Raji currently serve on the council.

Each of the five tickets garnered at least 150 signatures from students supporting their candidacy, which is a requirement to appear on the ballot, according to election rules.

The official campaign period will begin on Nov. 6. Election rules stipulate that candidates may not sit for on-the-record media interviews prior to the campaign start date.

Students will be able to cast votes electronically from noon on Nov. 11 to noon on Nov. 14.

— Staff writer Kevin R. Chen can be reached at kevin.chen@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @kchenx.