Even as they pulled out all the stops to generate as much support as possible on campus, candidates for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections missed an opportunity to campaign via the Delhi University Community Radio (DUCR).
The DUSU elections were held on Tuesday.
The university had announced that speeches of candidates would be broadcast on its community radio “in order to provide an opportunity to the candidatesto reach a wider audience”. However, most candidates were seemingly clueless about the provision.
“I had no idea about this provision,” said Parul Chauhan, presidential candidate of the All India Students’ Association.
In another notification dated August 24, DU had said that recorded speeches of candidates would be broadcast on its website.
Recorded speeches
The deadline for submitting the recordings was September 6. The notification added that the five-minute speeches would be “vetted and edited if necessary” and broadcast on September 7 and 8.
However, candidates were unaware of this facility as well. Mahamedhaa Nagar, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate for the post of secretary, said: “I learnt about this provision late on September 8. This is the first time DU has asked for such a recording. As for community radio, I did not have time to campaign via radio.”
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), however, alleged that it missed the September 6 deadline due to a controversy surrounding the nomination of its presidential candidate Rocky Tuseed.
“I wanted to take advantage of the provision but I did not have enough time for campaigning as the Election Commission rejected my nomination initially,” said Mr. Tuseed.
The NSUI further alleged that the EC was “unfair” to them.
“The deadline for submission of the recording was 4 p.m. on September 6. However, we got to know about his [Rocky Tuseed’s] nomination getting rejected only at 6 p.m. We asked the EC for permission to submit the recording later but our plea was rejected. It is apparent that the EC is working under the influence of the ABVP and the RSS, and EC members are mere puppets,” said NSUI media in charge Neeraj Mishra.
