NEW DELHI
The CYSS (Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti), the students’ union of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has decided not to contest the DUSU election for this term too.
CYSS state president Kamal Tiwari told The Sunday Guardian that CYSS will not contest the DUSU elections as per directions from the party’s high command. Tiwari also said that they were in discussion with NSUI to contest together, but the talks failed, and it was decided that “we would first connect with students and then contest elections next year. Moreover, we will contest at the college level to raise issues with the students”. One party insider said this decision has been taken given the PU (Punjab University) student elections, where CYSS failed to win a single seat. The AAP is in power in Punjab and has directly affected the state government›s reputation. “It was shown that people are not happy with the present government, so keeping this in mind, the party decided not to contest the DUSU elections, where they have earlier failed, as it will directly hamper the reputation of the Delhi government too.”
The CYSS has contested the DUSU election only twice since its formation in 2014, despite the Aam Aadmi Party being in power in Delhi with a huge majority. It was projected as a third alternative when it first debuted in the 2015 elections with large hoardings of Arvind Kejriwal, but could secure only 17% of the total votes when its parent party, AAP, won a huge majority in the Delhi state Assembly elections the same year. They did not fight the 2016, 2017, or 2019 elections. In 2018, CYSS contested the DUSU elections in alliance with the left party AISA.
The alliance tried to make this a triangular contest, but they could not win any seat. An insider in CYSS said: “We are not very regular in our elections, and that›s the reason we fail to recruit new students to our organization. Also, the decisions related to the union are taken by the party, and CYSS›s recommendations are neglected, which makes it hard for us to sometimes find a popular face for the central posts.
The party always tries to superimpose Arvind Kejriwal even in student elections and not the candidates, which I think is the prime reason for the poor performance of CYSS. The prime reason for CYSS not winning the DUSU election is a lack of organizational structure and constant interference from high command.
Vinay, one of the students from Hindu College, said: “CYSS is not regular in elections, and they also lack a strong face, which is why most of the students do not vote for them. Also, they do not have an active presence on campus like the ABVP and NSUI do; in fact, AISA has more presence than CYSS and is regular in elections. The fate of CYSS is in darkness, and it is imperative to contest elections to survive. If CYSS keeps on ignoring elections, the students will indeed look for other alternatives.”