The Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections which will be held on 12 September, will be a triangular contest this time, with the entry of the alliance of All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS).

According to the university's statement, the elections will be held in colleges as well to elect the members of the Central Council. The last date of filing nominations is 4 September. By the same date, candidates for the post of members of the Central Council must obtain their nomination papers from the concerned colleges or departments. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on the same day, after which a list of duly nominated candidates will be published, the statement said. Meanwhile, the candidates can withdraw their nominations till 5 September.

On 12 September, the voting is expected to start at 8.30 am and end by 7.30 pm. However, the date and venue for the counting of votes has not been announced yet, IANS reported.

In 2017, a total of 10 candidates contested for the presidential post with the main contestants being Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)'s Rajat Choudhary, National Students' Union of India (NSUI)'s Rocky Tusheed, AISA's Parul Chauhan and independents Raja Choudury and Alka.

NSUI, ABVP dominate elections

However, AISA-CYSS alliance's entry is expected to divide the votes which may have gone in favour of either of the two major student bodies, NSUI and ABVP. According to, the DUSU election results of last few years clearly indicate that there's no third outfit capable enough of winning even one of the four major posts in contention in the student body polls. Last year, Congress's NSUI had bagged the posts of president and vice president while the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had won the posts of secretary and joint secretary, as per PTI reports.

But, the CYSS has been claiming that the DUSU elections have become synonymous to "money and muscle power". "CYSS and AISA will fight the elections with a focus on positive politics, better education and improved services," AAP leader and Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said on Saturday on the launch of the joint manifesto.

AISA-CYSS alliance promises change from politics of 'money and power'

Installation of CCTV cameras, medical clinics for students and 24X7 college libraries were among the promises made in the joint manifesto for the released on Saturday by the Left-wing AISA and AAP students’ wing, CYSS. Gopal Rai said that the AISA would contest the posts of president and vice-president of DUSU, while the CYSS would contest the joint secretary and secretary posts.

Releasing the manifesto, AAP leader Atishi Marlena said the main agenda of the two groups was to oppose "commercialisation" of higher education and to curb the use of "muscle and money power" in student politics. CYSS Delhi convenor Sumit Yadav added that the alliance would work towards “zero tolerance” towards violence on campus.

Violence on campus

Meanwhile, incidents of violence continue to be reported from the campus amid poll campaigning and preparations. AISA's DU wing president Kawalpreet Kaur alleged that she was attacked on the campus on Friday by some men who she suspected to be from ABVP, reported The Hindu. She added that ABVP and NSUI had created an “SUV culture” in DU that the AISA-CYSS combine would work to end if elected.

A member of the left-backed Students Federation of India (SFI) was also allegedly attacked by some members of NSUI at the north campus on Saturday. Akashdeep Tripathi, presidential candidate of SFI in the DUSU polls, had gone to file his nominations when the incident took place. “Around 10-12 SUV cars came to kidnap Akashdeep and stop him filing his nomination. He was brutally assaulted by them when he resisted,” claimed SFI state secretary Prashant Mukherjee. However, NSUI denied the charges. “No one from NSUI was present in that group. The SFI is falsely implicating NSUI,” said NSUI Delhi coordinator Akshay Lakra. Meanwhile, a police complaint was registered in the matter, according to a report by The Hindustan Times.

Former DUSU president was deemed ineligible for contesting again after Delhi HC found him guilty of furnishing false information

A month before his tenure as DUSU president came to an end, the Delhi High Court had upheld the disqualification of Rocky Tuseed’s candidature by the university, saying that he could not have contested the upcoming elections. The high court found that he had furnished false information in his affidavit to the poll panel at the time of nominations, making him ineligible.

“The issue raised in the petition goes to the root (of) whether the petitioner (Tuseed) could at all stand for election to the post of president. The answer to which is ‘No’,” Justice V Kameswar Rao had remarked as the court reserved its judgment in the case. The court noted that Tuseed did not disclose to DU authorities that an FIR was lodged against him in 2014 at Rajouri Garden police station for the alleged offences of causing hurt, attempt to murder, trespass and common intention, and that he had remained in judicial custody from 28 August to 15 September 2014 for a case in which a chargesheet was also filed.

Earlier, the High Court had allowed Tuseed to contest the election by setting aside DU’s chief election officer's directive. The court, however, had said that the outcome of the poll “will be subject to the outcome of the petition” filed by Tuseed. Tuseed had approached the court after the varsity’s poll panel rejected his nomination because of disciplinary action taken against him in 2014, according to The Indian Express's report.

Source:www.firstpost.com