Delhi University Students’ Union poll today; AAP’s student wing won’t contest

The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) will conduct its election on Friday, September 27, after the Delhi high court allowed the poll to go ahead under the condition that counting and declaration of results could take place after defaced public property on campus was restored.
The Delhi high court expressed displeasure over the vandalism that had taken place on campus during the election campaigns and on Wednesday had warned the students’ union and election authorities that polls would be deferred if action was not taken, reported news agency ANI.
On Thursday, a bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela gave permission for the elections to continue but expressed serious concern about the lack of regulations and transparency as candidates spent large amounts of money on campaigns.
The next hearing on the matter has been scheduled for October 21. Earlier, in 2019, the court had disposed of a PIL by lawyer Prashant Manchanda seeking a complete ban on defacement of public property by the DUSU candidates.
The DUSU elections also faced controversy after Varun Choudhary, president of the Congress-linked National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), claimed that people linked to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had been appointed as electoral officers for the polls, reported news agency ANI.
Amid questions being raised about the integrity of the polls and the lack of supervision by the university, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party has bowed out of the race.
Kamal Tiwari, party secretary of the CYSS stated that they have opted out of elections after facing setbacks in the Punjab University polls last year and would be focusing on spreading awareness about AAP’s youth centric policies in Vidhan Sabha constituencies, reported The Indian Express.
In the 2023 elections, which were conducted after three years due to the pandemic, Tushar Dedha from the ABVP won the post of president, with Abhi Dahiya from NSUI as vice-president. Aparajita from ABVP won the secretary post and Sachin Basla from the same party won the joint secretary post.
The ABVP, NSUI and the AISA-SFI will be contesting against each other as 1,40,000 students vote in the elections in two phases.