DUSU Elections 2019: ABVP Wins Top 3 Posts, NSUI Clings On To 1 Seat

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday won three posts, including that of the president, in Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls while the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) bagged the secretary’s post.

Ashwit Dahiya of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) defeated National Students Union of India (NSUI)’s Chetna Tyagi for the top post by a margin of over 19,000 votes. The posts of vice president and joint secretary were won by ABVP’s Pradeep Tanwar and Shivangi Kharwal by a margin of 8,574 and 2,914 votes respectively.

NSUI bagged the secretary’s post with its candidate Ashish Lamba defeating ABVP’s Yogi Rathee by a margin of 2,053 votes.

The voter turnout in DUSU polls on Thursday was recorded at 39.90 per cent, over four percentage points down from the last year.

Last year, the election saw a 44.46 per cent voter turnout.

The polling for four positions of the DUSU ended amid allegations of EVM malfunctioning. Sixteen candidates, including four women, were in the fray and 52 polling centres were set up.

Over 1.3 lakh students were eligible to cast their vote. As many as 144 EVMs were used for students’ union polls and 137 were used for college union polls.

In 2017, the overall voting percentage was 42.5 per cent while it was 36.9 per cent in 2016. Last year, the ABVP had won three posts while the NSUI won one post.

Hot and humid weather, holidays in colleges and disenchantment of students with the politics were cited as reasons for the lower turnout.

Thursday was a declared holiday for students on account of it being election day, so students did not turn up to cast their votes, said some student leaders. There were long queues to cast votes as Law Faculty, Miranda House and Ramjas College.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Ashwit Dahiya ABVP defeated NSUI’s Chetna Tyagi for the top post by a margin of over 19,000 votes.
• NSUI bagged the secretary’s post with its candidate Ashish Lamba defeating ABVP’s Yogi Rathee.
• The polling for four positions of the DUSU ended amid allegations of EVM malfunctioning.