New Delhi, Sep 5 (Inditop.com) After 18 long years, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elected an independent as its president Saturday after Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed nominees were barred from contesting for the top post for violating election norms.
Manoj Chaudhary, a student of the Department of Buddhist Studies, defeated Bajinder Singh of the All India Students Federation (AISF), affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI), by just 11 votes.
While Chaudhary got 5,391 votes, Bajinder Singh finished with 5,380 votes. The result was declared after suspense-filled hours.
“This kind of a verdict has come after a really long time,” J.M. Khurana, chief returning officer of Delhi University, told Inditop.
The last independent to get elected as DUSU president was Rajiv Goswami, who set himself ablaze in 1990 to protest student quotas for backward castes. He won in 1991.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), which are backed by the BJP and Congress respectively and which traditionally dominate DUSU, won one seat each. The joint secretary’s post also went to an independent.
Kirti Wadhera (ABVP) was elected vice-president and Arshdeep Kaur of NSUI the secretary. Wadhera studies at Miranda House and Kaur is with the Law Faculty.
Anupriya Tyagi, another independent, will be the new joint secretary. She is a student of Hansraj College.
According to varsity authorities, Wadhera defeated independent Anurag Sharma by over 2,500 votes. Kaur defeated Ravi Kaushik of Hansraj College by over 4,000 votes.
Tyagi defeated the Students Federation of India’s (SFI) Natasha Nerwal by over 3,000 votes.
Elections to DUSU took place Friday. The vote count began Saturday morning in the Civil Lines area in north Delhi. Twenty-nine students were in the fray for the four posts.
Soon after his victory, president-elect Chaudhary said: “I was confident of winning. This is a win for our team. Today’s win has strengthened my trust in the whole system.”
ABVP supporters said Chaudhary got their backing after their candidate was disqualified from contesting.
Six candidates from ABVP and NSUI were barred from contesting the elections for violating rules on election expenditure. They were found spending more money than the fixed amount of Rs.5,000 per person, using cars and organising rallies for their campaign.
All this was deemed to be in violation of the recommendations of a panel headed by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh.
“My friends and I appreciate the strong resolve of the university for a fair election,” said Aditya Raj Kaul, a graduation student in the north campus.
