Polling began on Friday morning in Delhi’s two politically active varsities — University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) — for the post of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint Secretary.
The elections for the morning colleges of the Delhi University (DU) started at 8.30 am across 117 booths set up at 51 colleges of Delhi University and ended at 12.30 pm while the elections for the evening colleges were held between 3 pm and 7 pm.
Polling in JNU started at 9 am and closed at 5 pm. The results of the JNU polls would be declared on Sunday.
According to the Chief Election Commissioner for DUSU polls, a total of 17 candidates are in the fray for the four posts of Delhi University Students’ Union office-bearers.
Seven candidates are in the race for the post of President and four for the post of Vice-President. Three contestants each are in the fray for the Secretary and Joint Secretary posts.
The votes will be counted on Saturday and the results declared on the same day.
“It is going to be a close fight. But we are confident of winning,” Angellica Aribam, National General Secretary of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) said.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), swept all the four posts in DU by huge margins in last year’s elections.
Last year, ABVP defeated Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), affiliated to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), NSUI, affiliated to Congress and All India Students’ Association (AISA), affiliated to the Communist Party of India.
Amit Tanwar is the ABVP presidential candidate this year.
The NSUI has fielded first-year LLB student Nikhil Yadav as its presidential candidate. The AISA’s presidential candidate is Kawalpreet Kaur, who is also a law student.
The CYSS is not contesting this year. It was unable to win any seat last year during its first contest in the DUSU elections.