Even as hot seat for the contry's students election process is still a month away, electioneering process in the Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University is witnessing new player in the form of Northeast students. Major political parties are fully aware of the 10,000-strong student community from the region.

Media reports has it that leaders from the National Students Union of India (NSUI), recently met northeastern students at the Nagaland House to garner their support. "They can make a difference in the elections," said an AICC member. Several community-based unions from the region have got together under a single umbrella, calling themselves the North East Students United Forum.

With representation from all the states, excluding Sikkim, in the Northeast, the forum includes major groupings such as the Assam Students Association, Delhi, Delhi Mizo Zirlai Pawl, Tripura Students Union, Manipur Students Association, Delhi and the Naga Students Union, Delhi.

The Northeast students' votes is expected to have some impact on the outcome of the result. But the absence of some students' union from the reported meeting made it clear that not all northeast students' unions were too keen to join the so-called forum.