DUSU election 2018 today: Voting begins at 8.30 am: Five candidates for the presidential race

DUSU election 2018 today: Voting begins at 8.30 am: Five candidates for the presidential race

Political Services                                               Download latest voter list Booth wise

Elections to the University of Delhi (DUSU) are scheduled for today, with the start of 8.30 pm with the voting. Students need to take their identity cards to cast their votes. Votes will be counted on Thursday (September 13th) at 8:30 pm in a community hall in police lines in Kingsway Camp area of Delhi.

The DUSU elections is a triangular contest this year, with the entry of the alliance of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the Aam Aadmi Party's student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS). The alliance is expected to divide the votes that may have gone in favour of either of the two major student bodies — the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students' Union of India (NSUI).

Voting is underway in morning colleges for the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls, with 1.35 lakh students registered as voters to decide the fate of 23 candidates. While the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has promised the ‘Institute of Eminence’ tag for Delhi University and ‘thalis’ for Rs 10, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has promised to spend 50 percent of the union's budget on women and social justice-related activities, along with a special attention to promoting sports and installing sanitary pad vending machines on college campuses.

Five candidates for the presidential election and vice president of DUSU.

ABVP has fielded Ankit Basoya for the post of president. He is pursuing an MA in Buddhist studies. Shakti Singh is the Vice President of ABVP. He is studying law in DU's faculty law. Sudhir of ABVP, who is fighting for the post of Secretary, got a bachelor's degree from Ramjas College and is currently pursuing an MA in Buddhist studies. Jyoti Chaudhary, who is contesting for the post of joint secretary on an ABVP ticket, completed her graduation from Vivekananda College and is also pursuing an MA in Buddhist Studies at present.

NSUI nominated Sunny Chillar for DUSU President's post. Chilar, son of Delhi Traffic Police assistant sub-inspector, got a bachelor's degree from Dayal Singh College and is receiving a postgraduate degree from Shivaji College. Lena, who graduated from Miranda House and is currently pursuing an MA in Buddhist studies, is a candidate for the Vice President of NSUI.

Aakash Choudhary, who is contesting for the secretary's post, was the union president of his alma matter, Sri Aurobindo College. He is currently pursuing law. Saurabh Yadav, the joint secretary candidate, is currently studying at Motilal Nehru College.

The AISA-CYSS Alliance has fielded the students' program of Ramjas College for the post of DUSU president. Anshuka Singh, a student of Dayal Singh College, is fighting for the post of Vice President. Student of Law Center-2 Chandrama Deo was nominated for the position of secretary. PGDAV College student Sunny Tanwar is a coalition candidate for Joint Secretary.

Only five women nominated for DUSU elections

Women's representation in the DUSU elections continues to remain low, with only five women contesting the polls this year of a total of 23 candidates. According to The Indian Express, six of the 24 candidates were women last year, and in 2016, eight of the 17 candidates were women.

The Indian National Students' Organisation's Preeti Chauhan is the only woman nominated for the post of the DUSU president this year.

NSUI wants candidature of ABVP's vice-presidential nominee cancelled

The NSUI on Tuesday demanded the cancellation of the nomination of ABVP's Shakti Singh for "indulging in violence", reported NDTV. On Monday, members of the ABVP defaced property at Delhi's Zakir Hussain College, while wielding sticks and raising slogans, reports said.

"This all began when ABVP candidate Shakti Singh forcibly entered the college with 50 to 100 of his friends and started ransacking the property. To protect ourselves, we left the college and later picketed on the road for hours, demanding action," Anoop, a student of the college, told IANS.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Delhi), Manjeet Randhawa, denied receiving any complaint from the college.

NSUI focuses on digital platforms

The NSUI has claimed that this year, it became the first student organisation to launch a "digital manifesto" for the DUSU polls. Neeraj Mishra, an NSUI media coordinator, was quoted as saying by The Asian Age: "Keeping in view the spirit of digital revolution introduced by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the manifesto was launched on Facebook and Twitter, where #NSUIDigiManifesto was on the top in the trending list in India."

Pragya Tomar of the NSUI told The Times of India, "I believe in paperless campaigning, and that is why we are focussing more on digital platforms.

Last year's results

In 2017, 10 candidates contested for the presidential post. The contestants at the forefront were ABVP's Rajat Choudhary, NSUI's Rocky Tusheed, AISA's Parul Chauhan and Independents Raja Choudhary and Alka. The NSUI had bagged the posts of president and vice-president, while the RSS-affiliated ABVP had won the posts of secretary and joint secretary.Tuseed became the DUSU president and Kunal Sehrawat the vice-president. ABVP's Mahamedhaa Nagar became the DUSU secretary and Uma Shankar, the joint secretary.

• Next