Congress' NSUI fails to overturn ABVP stronghold at DU's DUSU elections

An intense campaign by the Congress’s National Students Union of India (NSUI), helmed by Kanhaiya Kumar, failed to overturn the status quo at India’s largest elected students’ union at Delhi University.

The NSUI won the vice-president’s post while the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) grabbed the other three primary offices, keeping the score 3-1 as it has been in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections since 2018.

These were the first elections after the pandemic — during which political activity on campus had came to a standstill. This was also the first time Kanhaiya, a former president of the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity Students’ Union from the CPI-backed All India Students’ Federation (AISF), had overseen polls at DU.

ABVP’s Tushar Dedha, Aprajita and Sachin Baisla were elected president, secretary and joint secretary, trouncing their NSUI adversaries. NSUI’s Abhi Dahiya beat the ABVP to be elected vice-president.

CPIML-Liberation’s All India Students Association (AISA), which has come third in all postings for more than a decade, this time faced a challenge from the SFI, which came third in the polls to the secretary’s post. They were in close combat with the NOTA option. Jannayak Janta Party’s Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) came sixth in all posts.

The turnout of 42 per cent was somewhat higher than 39.9 per cent in 2019. There are roughly 1.3 lakh eligible voters. The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti of Delhi’s ruling AAP did not contest this time.

Kanhaiya had told reporters last week: “We aren’t fighting the ABVP. We are battling Rajni Abbi (DU proctor and former Delhi mayor of the BJP). At every step, our applicants are harassed.”