JNU, Delhi University Students Union Elections Today  

New Delhi, Sep 9: Polling began on Friday morning in the University of Delhi for the post of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint Secretary.

Students of another prominent university of the country -- Delhi University -- are also electing their representatives today.

Around 35 candidates are in fray in both the universities.

Voting started at 8.30am across 117 booths set up at 51 colleges of Delhi University.

The elections for the morning colleges started at 8.30am and end at 12.30pm while the elections for the evening colleges will start at 3pm and end at 7pm.

According to the Chief Election Commissioner for DUSU polls, a total of 17 candidates are in fray for the four posts of Delhi University Students’ Union office-bearers. A total of 1,23,246 voters are on the list.

Seven candidates are in race for the post of President and four for the post of Vice-President. Three contestants each are in fray for the Secretary and Joint Secretary post.

The votes will be counted on Saturday and the results declared on the same day.

The elections at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which have been keenly contested over decades are hogging more limelight this year in the backdrop of the February 9 event during which “anti-national’’ slogans were allegedly raised leading to arrest of outgoing JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others.

While the political slugfest at DU has over the decades been between Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and RSS’ student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), left-affiliated All India Students Association (AISA) is vying for the central panel posts with a series of campaigns done by the outfit in recent months to thwart alleged attempts of attacks on university campuses across the country.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), swept all the four posts by huge margins in last year’s elections.

Last year, ABVP defeated Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), affiliated to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to Congress and All India Students’ Association (AISA), affiliated to the Communist Party of India.

Amit Tanwar is the ABVP presidential candidate this year.

The NSUI has fielded first-year LLB student Nikhil Yadav as its presidential candidate. The AISA’s presidential candidate is Kawalpreet Kaur, who is also a law student.

The CYSS is not contesting this year. It was unable to win any seat last year during it first contest in the DUSU elections.

--IANS