Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) president Rocky Tuseed on Monday said that he has been the president of the union since September but since the university administration has not held elections to the DUSU executive committee posts, the union has not been able to start delivering on its election promises.
Budget issues
“The DUSU executive committee is very important as it has control over the annual budget of union, which is approximately ₹24 lakh. These funds are important as we have to use them to deliver the mandate with which we won the election,” said Mr. Tuseed, who turned round the fortunes of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) after four years. He added that traditionally the DUSU executive committee elections were held within a period of 15 days after the DUSU elections, but this year the election officer was appointed by the Vice-Chancellor on November 2 and with the semester examinations around the corner, the elections have still not been held.
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“By the time the elections are held and we are given access to our funds, more than half my tenure will be over. How are we expected to carry out our promised agenda if our hands are tied,” asked Mr. Tuseed
No poll timeline
When the NSUI won the post of DUSU president, the party has announced a slew of measures that it would take up in its tenure, including increased transparency in the way the DUSU budget was spent as well as giving the students of the university a greater say on what to spend the money on.
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On November 2, the Vice-Chancellor in his capacity as the Patron of DUSU had appointed Rajeev Gupta from the department of Chemistry as the election officer to elect the 11-member executive committee. The notice, however, did not give a timeline for conducting the election.
The NSUI said that according to the DUSU constitution, the executive committee needs to meet at least once every month but with the university not conducting the election, it has ensured that the student union is made to function without the money that every student is entitled to the benefit from.
Mr. Tuseed said that several seminars, debate and quiz competitions that were planned in the first two months could not take place, but the union has gone ahead with forming a DUSU Legal Cell to provide legal aid and advice to students of the university as well as spread awareness about their rights by conducting seminars.