Elections to Delhi University Students’ Union were on Friday held in two phases for electing representatives from 17 candidates of ABVP, AISA and NSUI.
Long queues were witnessed outside colleges. The voters were seen speaking to candidates about what they intend to do for them, and taking selfies.
A few students said they were glad that the university introduced the “none of the above” (NOTA) option, while some said the debate over “anti-nationalism versus nationalism” made them come out and vote.
“I am happy about DU introducing the NOTA option. Now we have a choice to not select a candidate if we do not like their agenda,” said Nikhil, a law student.
“I am not interested in politics, but after the anti- nationalism row on the campus, I felt the need to come out, voice my opinion, cast my vote and choose my leader,” Prerna, another Law student, said.
“We feel that the candidates should discuss our problems and together work to find solutions,” said Nidhi, a second year BA student at Ramjas.
DUSU is the representative body of the DU students from most colleges and faculties. Apart from DUSU, which is an umbrella council, each college has its own students’ union to which separate elections are held.
The polling started at 8.30 AM in morning colleges and ended by 12.30 PM. The voting timings for evening colleges were 3 PM to 7 PM.
While the battle for DUSU has mainly been the contest between the Congress-affiliated NSUI and RSS’ student wing ABVP for years, the Left-affiliated AISA is also vying for the central panel posts this time.
ABVP had last year won all four seats trouncing NSUI and AAP’s Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti. The AAP’s student wing is not contesting the polls this year.
While 7 candidates are in race for the post of President, 4 nominations have been validated for the post of Vice-President
With a total of 1,23,246 voters, polling is taking place at 117 booths in 51 colleges. The counting will be held on Saturday.
Sourced from PTI, Featured image courtesy: www.ndtv.com
