With the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections scheduled to be held on September 12, the university’s North Campus has once again become the hub of all activities. Despite this, not many students from within the university seem involved with the process of electing their representatives to the students’ union.
The DUSU election is an annual affair where the primary contenders are from the BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the Left-aligned All India Students’ Association (AISA).
Student politics in DU is often seen as an indicator of national politics, as it is the largest Central university in the country. However, last year saw only a 36.9% turnout in the DUSU elections. Some of the students cite a lack of proper leaders as the reason for their disinterest in the DUSU elections.
Leader with conviction
“Every year there is a commotion during the weeks leading up to the elections and after that we hardly see the elected body do anything for the university. It’s like a known fact within the university that the similar few with muscle power try and woo students.”
“To top it all, we even see incidents like those in Ramjas. I did vote in my first two years but this time I will not vote. Until and unless there is a leader with conviction to work for the university, there is no point participating in the elections,” said a third-year Ramjas student who did not wish to be named.
“I have not voted for the past two years as here it is just about power politics. Most of the candidates are enrolled in petty courses. They get themselves enrolled just to fight these elections. Additionally, majority of the students cast their votes simply for the candidates rather than electing a fair students’ union,” said Akash Krishnan, a third-year student from Ram Lal Anand College.
The other “open secret” within the university is that many of these parties have earlier tried to woo students by giving a number of free gifts despite the Election Commission capping the expenditure of each candidate at ₹5,000.
Rather than being impressed by this, many see this as the reason to not have faith in these candidates.
“In my first year, I was actually surprised to see how many candidates approached our paying guest accommodations directly and left behind chocolates despite our refusal. Forget discussing their vision for the university with us, all that they were bothered about was if every one in the PG received those chocolates. I even heard that a particular organisation gave away free movie tickets,” said Shrishti, who graduated from Satyawati College this year.
‘Campus unsafe’
Further, few colleges like the Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), do not participate in the DUSU elections.
“The campus becomes quite unsafe during the elections and it is good that my college is not a part of such propaganda politics. We have our own little world in which our independent college union works for the students without any chaos,” said Devika Thapa, a second-year political science student from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Voicing concerns about the conditions on campus during elections, Nikita, an M.Com student from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) said, “It is a terrifying situation during the pre-election time. Party candidates behave like hooligans, littering the campus and taking rounds on their cars. They should rather work towards making the campus a safer place for students and create a conducive environment for students to come forward and vote.”
However, fresh entrants to the university sound more optimistic. “I am eager to cast my vote as it is our right. I am waiting to see how the students’ union turns out to be as I expect a lot from them,” said Priya Singh Charan, a first-year student.
