Captures the president’s post, two others; Congress-backed NSUI wins vice-president’s post.
NEW DELHI
The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the RSS, swept the DUSU elections, capturing the president’s post and two others.
The Congress-backed NSUI won the vice president’s post in a closely fought battle. ABVP’s Tushar Dedha won the President’s post, Aprajita won the Secretary post, Sachin won the Joint Secretary post, and NSUI’s Abhi Dahiya won the Vice-President’s post.
Victorious DUSU president Tushar Dedha said, “Improving hostel facilities for students will be our top priority. For the last eight years, I have been continuously raising students’ issues and will take that experience forward in improving the lives of students and acting as a bridge between students and administration.”
Virendra Sachdeva, Delhi BJP chief, congratulated the winners by saying: “The idea of nationalism in students made ABVP victorious in the election.”
The heavy voting, which is up 10% from the last election held in 2019, and the dominance of the ABVP in DUSU are being seen by BJP leaders as a healthy sign for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.
The NSUI, on the other hand, failed to improve its tally from one. Analysts say the failure of the Congress’ students’ wing to make inroads into DUSU may be a cause for concern, as it would need to rejig its strategy to woo young voters in a city where it has no MP or MLA.
Victorious candidate on the president’s post Tushar Dedha got 23,460 votes, while vice President candidate Abhi Dahiya got 22,331 votes, Secretary candidate Aprajita got 24,534 votes, and Joint Secretary candidate Sachin got 24,955 votes.
A total of 24 candidates contested for four posts. There were ample security arrangements from the university as well as the police side. Entry with a valid college ID card was allowed. Chander Shekhar, the chief election officer for the polls, said, «The voter turnout this year was recorded at 42%. Around one lakh students were eligible to vote in the election.
The voting percentage has increased since the last election; however, it could not surpass the 11-year record of 44.46% in 2018. The elections were peaceful; however, several videos of violence during the campaign period were circulated on social media. Kanhaiya Kumar, in a press conference, accused the ABVP of inciting violence on campus. In reply to this, ABVP›s national media convenor, Ashutosh Singh, said, ABVP had earlier also raised concern about the infiltration of outsiders associated with NSUI on the university campus.
The police denied any such act of violence during the campaign. DCP North Sagar Singh Kalsi said, «We received no complaints of any incidents during this period. The police carried out regular security checks on the university campus.