Disclaimer: Executive vice presidential candidate Lynelle Essilfie and SGA president-elect Dhruvak Mirani are former Diamondback opinion columnists.
Dhruvak Mirani will be the University of Maryland’s 2025-26 SGA president, the organization announced Friday.
Mirani, a junior computer science and government and politics major, ran on the Our College Park ticket and defeated StriveUMD’s presidential candidate Graham Firosz by 1,543 votes.
Mirani is a student member of the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, and previously served as a student liaison to the College Park City Council.
Mirani told The Diamondback that he is looking forward to working on “issues that students actually care about.”
“I feel very grateful for all of the support I received from my friends, from people I’ve worked with in the past, from students who might have just gotten to know me,” Mirani said.
As president, Mirani hopes to increase the SGA’s influence on local and state legislation, he told The Diamondback in March.
JusticeUMD’s Riona Sheikh was elected as the SGA’s next executive vice president. The sophomore government and politics major defeated candidates Shuli Frenkel from OurCollege Park and Lynelle Essilfie from StriveUMD.
“I think it’s going to be an amazing year for the SGA,” Sheikh told The Diamondback on Sunday.
As executive vice president, Sheikh said she wants to work on improving accommodations for students with disabilities and create an Accessibility and Disability Service legislator position in the SGA.
Iman Ali, a junior finance and information systems major, ran alongside Sheikh on the JusticeUMD ticket and was elected as the SGA’s next financial affairs vice president.
[UMD students vote in support of divestment referendum]
Students also voted on two nonbinding referendums on this year’s election, which ran from April 1 to April 3.
The first ballot question asked students whether they supported implementing a mandatory University Health Center fee starting in the 2027 fiscal year.
The second question asked students whether they support the University System of Maryland Foundation and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation divesting from certain defense, military and security companies.
About 55 percent of students voted in favor of the divestment referendum, while the health center fee question was struck down with only about 35 percent of students voting in favor.
“One of the biggest things we can do is get our university system to divest, and I love that we’re taking a big step towards making that happen,” Sheikh said.
Full election results can be found here.
This story has been updated.
