ABVP bags three DUSU posts

NSUI wins only vice-president’s post; Amit Shah lauds youth for backing ‘ideology that puts national interest first’

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Sunday celebrating after they secured three of the four posts on offer in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Saturday retained the president’s post and bagged two others in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections, continuing its decade-long dominance in the campus politics having around one lakh eligible voters.

The Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) could manage to win only the vice-president’s post, losing out to the ABVP the posts of joint secretary and secretary.

As soon as results were declared, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate the ABVP.

“This victory reflects the faith of the young generation in the ideology that puts national interest first. I have full confidence that the workers of the ABVP will continue to work with determination to keep the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and the spirit of nationalism alive among the youth,” he said.

Twenty-four candidates were in the fray for the four posts in the elections, which were held on Friday.

ABVP’s Tushar Dedha bagged the president’s post, defeating NSUI’s Hitesh Gulia. NSUI’s Abhi Dahiya won the vice-president’s post. ABVP’s Aparajita and Sachin Baisla bagged the posts of the secretary and joint secretary, respectively.

All four winning candidates are pursuing their master’s from the Department of Buddhist Studies.

The NSUI had last held the DUSU president’s post in 2017. The ABVP has lost the election to the post only once since 2013. Only 42% of eligible voters had voted in this year’s elections.

The ABVP fought the polls on a 21-point manifesto, including promises like metro passes for students, self-defence training for girl students, full-time gynaecologist and psychologists in at the university health centre and the strengthening of internal complaints committee (ICC) in colleges.

The NSUI had promised 12 days of menstrual leave every semester, a violence-free campus, efforts to check fee hikes, more hostel seats, round-the-clock access to the library, free metro passes for students, an active placement cell and free Wi-Fi facility.

In the run-up to the elections, the university campus was reverberating with talks of a possible alliance between the NSUI and the student outfits associated with the INDIA bloc parties, which will be taking on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The talks failed and NSUI, AISA and SFI fielded their own candidates.