38 per cent turnout in Dusu polls, NSUI alleges EVM glitches

New Delhi: Polling for the four positions of Delhi University Students’ Union (Dusu) took place at 52 polling centres on Thursday, with 16 candidates in the fray and over 1.3 lakh students eligible to cast their votes. The polling began at 9.30 am and ended at 7.30 pm.

A 38 per cent voter turnout was recorded across 17 booths in the North campus where 400 police personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incident, the police said.

The students, who cast their votes on Thursday, demanded more hostels, safer and cleaner campus, Wi-Fi, and a responsible students’ union.

The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) claimed that its joint secretary candidate Abhishek Chaprana was denied entry to the polling booths in Dayal Singh College in South Delhi. The student outfit claimed Mr Chaprana was illegally detained.

However, the police said that he was canvassing for votes outside the college, which is not allowed. When he was asked not to canvass, he “misbehaved” with the policemen and had to be detained, the police said.

The NSUI alleged malfunctioning of EVM machines at a college. An election committee member said the votes were being cast but there was some problem with the light that glows. It was replaced, he added.

NSUI’s secretary candidate Ashish Lamba was not allowed to enter Ramjas College after ABVP alleged he had brought some outsiders with him. The police said it did not receive any complaint so far and that the election has been peaceful.

Out of the 16 candidates in the fray, there are only four women in contention while two of them are contesting independently.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has fielded Akshit Dahiya for the post of Dusu president; Pradeep Tanwar for the vice president’s post; Yogit Rathee for the general secretary’s post; and Shivangi Kherwal for the post of joint secretary.

The NSUI has pitted Chetna Tyagi against Ms Dahiya and Left-backed AISA’s Damini Kain for the post of president. The NSUI has fielded Ankit Bharti for the vice president’s post, Ashish Lamba for the secretary’s post, and Abhishek Chaprana for the post of joint secretary.