DUSU elections: ABVP wins 3 central panel posts, NSUI bags VP post

The RSS-affiliated ABVP on Saturday won three out of the four central panel posts of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) and the Congress’ student wing NSUI bagged one, according to officials.

Tushar Dedha of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won the post of DUSU president, defeating NSUI's Hitesh Gulia. The Congress student wing’s Abhi Dahiya bagged the post of vice-president. ABVP’s Aparajita and Sachin Baisla won the posts of secretary and joint secretary, respectively.

The counting of votes for the DUSU's central panel posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary concluded on Saturday evening. The election was held on Friday.

The DUSU elections have always seen a direct fight between the ABVP and the NSUI. The ABVP won three of the four seats in the 2019 elections as well. The DUSU elections were last held in 2019. The polls could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 while possible disruptions to the academic calendar prevented their conduct in 2022.

Twenty-four candidates were in the fray for the four posts this year. Chander Shekhar -- the chief election officer for the polls -- said the university recorded a voter turnout of 42 per cent. Around one lakh students were eligible to vote in the election.

While the voting percentage was higher than in 2019 when a turnout of 39.90 per cent was recorded, it failed to surpass the nearly 11-year-high figure of 2018. The turnouts in 2018 and 2017 were 44.46 per cent and 42.8 per cent, respectively.

Elections at 52 colleges and departments for the central panel were conducted through electronic voting machines (EVMs) while voting for the college union polls was on paper ballots.

For students, core issues ranged from fee hikes to the lack of affordable accommodations, enhanced security during college fests and menstrual leaves.

The ABVP, Congress-affiliated NSUI, CPI(M)-backed Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the CPI(ML)-Liberation-linked All India Students' Association (AISA) had fielded candidates for all four central posts.

The DUSU is the main representative body for most colleges and faculties. Each college also has its own students' union, elections to which are held annually.

(With agency inputs)