Elections to the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) were conducted across several colleges amid tight security on Tuesday.
This year, the polls saw an increase in turnout with 42.8% students coming out to vote. Last year, the turnout was 36.9%.
Over 1.20 lakh students were eligible to cast their vote this time around. Long lines were seen at several north campus colleges in the afternoon.
The Chief Election officer said that counting of votes will be done on Wednesday at 8.30 a.m. Results of college-level elections, which were announced late Tuesday, failed to provide any trend on which way the voters were swaying.
This year, the elections saw major flouting of norms laid down by the Lyngdoh Committee on students’ union elections, as well as the DUSU code of conduct.
Flouting of norms
Supporters of candidates defaced public property, littered the campus with pamphlets, roamed around in cavalcades and allegedly enticed voters with freebies.
Despite pressure from the Hight Court and the National Green Tribunal, Delhi University authorities and the police did little to enforce the code of conduct.
Candidates resorted to tactics such as misspelling their names on pamphlets to avoid scrutiny or disqualification.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (APVP) ran a campaign focussing on building their nationalism agenda.
The ABVP claimed that since they have been active on campus throughout the year, they will be the natural choice among students.
The National Students Union of India (NSUI) released their manifesto early this year, but suffered a setback when the nomination of their presidential candidate was rejected. The NSUI had to go to court to ensure their candidate was allowed to contest. The setback cost the Congress-affiliated outfit two crucial days of campaigning.
The All India Students’ Association’s (AISA) campaign against “violence on campus” and “money and muscle culture” found favour with students.
The 10 contenders for the DUSU presidential post include ABVP’s Rajat Choudhary, NSUI’s Rocky Tusheed AISA’s Parul Chauhan, and Left Unity Panel’s Rafat Alam.
Last year, the ABVP had bagged three posts while the NSUI won the post of joint secretary. In 2015, the ABVP had bagged all four seats.