London:
Anoushka Kale has been elected president of the University of Cambridge’s renowned Cambridge Union Society for the Easter term following an uncontested race. The 20-year-old British Indian student will reportedly become the first female Union president since last Easter term. She is the fourth candidate in five elections to become president unopposed.
Ms Kale is reading English Literature at Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge University. She is among the few South Asian heritage female members to take on the prestigious role. As the serving Debates Officer of the society, she ran on a platform of strengthening ties with cultural societies of the university such as the India Society.
The president-elect won 126 votes to be elected uncontested for the next 2025 Easter term, with 25 members balloting to re-open nominations. Her campaign centred around improving “diversity and access” at the Union. She has promised to strengthen “ties with cultural and access-based societies” and reduce access ticket costs, according to a report by Variety.
Ms Kale’s pledges find root in the Cambridge Union’s decision to increase their membership fees earlier this year amid financial pressures and increasing “upkeep costs” of its Grade-II listed heritage building.
After her victory, Ms Kale told Varsity, “I am absolutely delighted and honoured to have been elected as President of the Cambridge Union Society for Easter 2025 and grateful for the membership’s support,”
“For my term, I will seek to expand diversity and access at the Union through greater collaboration with cultural groups, like the university’s India Society. I am also especially passionate about continuing to host international speakers and global debate motions, as I did as Debates Officer of the society,” she added.
She further said that she’s looking forward to delivering on her manifesto promises, “particularly on expanding diversity through society collaborations and reduced access tickets for the summer garden party.”
“A key component of my platform was delivering more for members, which I will prioritise throughout the term with a members’ motion and debate dinner ballots. Bringing new faces onto committees and increasing membership engagement is crucial to making our elections more contested again, which I pledge to push for,” she added
About Cambridge Union Society
Cambridge Union Society is one of the world’s oldest debating societies founded in 1815, known for its commitment to free speech.
Former presidents and officers of the Cambridge Union Society have included celebrated English economist and philosopher John Maynard Keynes, novelist Robert Harris and, in recent years, British Indian peer and founder of Cobra Beer Karan Bilimoria.
Like the Oxford University’s Oxford Union Society, the Cambridge Union has a long tradition of hosting prominent figures from all areas of public life in its chamber, from US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Ministers Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, to Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and the Dalai Lama.
