DUSU elections: HC clears Tuseed’s nomination

Court questions grounds for rejection of candidature; NSUI says it is a victory for democracy

September 09, 2017 01:49 am | Updated 01:49 am IST - NEW DELHI

Rocky Tuseed

Rocky Tuseed

The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) candidate Rocky Tuseed to contest the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections to be held on September 12. The order came as a huge relief to the NSUI which had fielded Mr. Tuseed as its presidential candidate.

Soon after Justice Indermeet Kaur granted relief to Mr. Tuseed, members of his organisation took out a “victory procession” on the North Campus. They questioned the DUSU Election Commission’s decision to reject Mr. Tuseed’s nomination on grounds of ‘disciplinary action’.

Even the High Court, during the hearing, posed questions to Delhi University for rejecting the nomination of the Congress-affiliate NSUI's presidential candidate.

"The petitioner says he was warned by Shivaji College and it was not a disciplinary action, which this court is finding to be true. By no stretch of imagination, it can be put as a disciplinary action," the judge said.

Anonymous complaint

The court also said that the university was “stigmatising” the student by rejecting his nomination. Senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for Mr. Tuseed, argued how can the Chief Election Commissioner reject his nomination on the basis of an anonymous complaint. "It was done behind my back. If there was any disciplinary action against me in the past by the college authorities, I should have been called and heard. I was only warned and no disciplinary action was taken against,” Mr. Chidambaram contended for Mr Tuseed.

The NSUI had earlier called the poll panel’s move “arbitrary and mala fide”.

“There is no definition of ‘disciplinary action’ as advanced by the Election Commission of Delhi University. Without clear definition, there is bound to be arbitrary application of standards which is bad law,” said Ruchi Gupta, NSUI in-charge.

‘Rocky returns’

Calling the court order a “ victory for democracy”, the NSUI said, “The BJP and the ABVP do not want a democratic contest and try to win elections through intimidation, violence and subversion of all democratic values. The judiciary has stood for justice and now the students of Delhi University will stand for democracy.”

Party leaders speaking at the gathering asked the members to make the university students aware that “Rocky is back”.

With two days of campaigning already over, the NSUI claimed that it is in a disadvantageous position because of the CEO’s move.

It demanded an extension of the election date so that Mr. Tuseed could get enough time to campaign. “Our candidate has lost two full days of campaign time. The university is closed over the weekend and campaigning has to end by 8.30 a.m. on Monday. This leaves our candidate with no time to campaign. This is against the principles of free and fair elections,” read the statement issued by the NSUI.

After the initial rejection of Mr. Tuseed’s candidature, the NSUI had announced that Alka, an Independent candidate, would contest the polls as its presidential candidate.

However, now that his name has been cleared, Mr. Tuseed is set to contest as the NSUI candidate.

(With inputs from PTI)

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