In a repeat of last year’s results, the RSS backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won three out of four seats in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) panel elections, while the Congress backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) won one seat, university appointed election officials announced on Friday.
Standing on top of the Vivekananda statue at the Arts Faculty after a victory procession across North Campus, 20-year-old Akshit Dahiya, who was declared president, said: “This is not the victory of any individual but that of workers of the ABVP.”
Having won the presidentship with a margin of 19,039 votes, ABVP’s State secretary, Sidharth Yadav claimed that this was the highest victory margin ever since direct elections started in the union.
Apart from Mr. Dahiya, the post of vice-president was won by Pradeep Tanwar, a student of Deshbandhu College and the post of joint-secretary went to Shivangi Kharwal of the Department of Buddhist studies.
The group, in its manifesto had promised that it would work towards making improvements on five fronts — campus reforms, curriculum, admissions, examinations and results. It also vowed to make the union more accessible to students.
Meanwhile, in a narrow victory, Ashish Lamba of the NSUI beat Yogit Rathi of the ABVP by a margin of 2,053 votes. Commenting on the single victory, NSUI’s Delhi president, Akshay Lakra pointed out that Mr. Rathi was part of the Ramjas College Union when the violence broke out on the campus in 2017 and alleged that he was “one of the main perpetrators.” Through this victory, students of the university had sent a message that they are against such violence, he said.
AISA’s vote share
Left wing All India Students’ Association (AISA) came in third on all four posts. The group claimed that it had increased its vote share on at least three of the posts and had consequently established itself as the only credible opposition to the ABVP in the university. AISA’s candidates secured 5,886 votes for the post of president, 8,217 votes for the post of vice-president, 6,804 votes for secretary post and 10,876 votes for joint-secretary post.
The results are however subject to the outcome of complaints over violations of the code of conduct and the audited account of expenditure of the candidates, the CEO said in a notification.
Last year, after the ABVP’s candidate Ankiv Baisoya won the post of president, it was later discovered that one of his degree certificates was fake.
