Following crushing defeat in PUCSC elections, immediate suspensions in NSUI as internal cracks widen

At the heart of the NSUI’s collapse lies a growing rebellion over ticket distribution. Party insiders claim that deserving, long-serving student leaders were overlooked in favour of newcomers with no organisational history. One case has become particularly symbolic of the dysfunction: a student who officially joined the party at 11 am was granted a ticket just five hours later.

These decisions have been pinned on Chandigarh unit in-charge Dilip Choudhary, whose role in the election strategy has come under intense scrutiny. Student leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh submitted written complaints to NSUI’s Delhi headquarters, accusing Choudhary of arbitrary selections, misleading senior leadership, and suppressing grassroots voices.

Sources confirmed that the complaints against Choudhary had reached the NSUI’s Delhi office even before election day. The allegations detailed failures in ticket distribution, lack of on-ground campaigning, and poor communication with student workers issues that, in hindsight, were clearly reflected in the poll outcome.

In a dramatic turn of events, the NSUI’s national headquarters issued suspension notices to several senior Panjab University leaders, including Archit Garg, Anurag Dalal, Navdeep Singh Meel, Chaitanya Ror, and Sagar Khatri, at 6 pm on Wednesday — the day results were announced. Just an hour later, Choudhary himself was suspended. “This is to inform you that Dilip Choudhary has been relieved from all duties and responsibilities of the NSUI Chandigarh with immediate effect”, Varun Choudhary, national president, NSUI, wrote on Wednesday.

The swift back-to-back suspensions shocked the campus and were widely interpreted as an attempt to control the narrative amid growing outrage. However, many students and observers saw the move as too little, too late arguing that the suspensions only served to highlight factionalism and scapegoating within the party.

The election results, declared on September 3, confirmed the extent of the damage. The ABVP’s Gaurav Veer Sohal clinched the presidential post ending the NSUI’s years-long dominance. The complete rout across major positions exposed the NSUI’s crumbling organisational structure and its failure to adapt to the changing political climate on campus.

Reactions across Panjab University suggest that the election result may be a defining moment for the NSUI.

“Student politics cannot be run from air-conditioned boardrooms or luxury hotels. Leaders must be on the ground, eating with students, listening to their problems. With its credibility in shambles, the NSUI now faces an existential question: Can it reconnect with the grassroots and rebuild from within,” a political analyst observing the elections said.

While rival student bodies such as the ABVP and independents carried out aggressive hostel-level campaigns, NSUI leaders were criticised for conducting closed-door meetings from the comfort of five-star hotels. The lack of direct engagement with hostel residents — a critical voter base — resulted in a significant erosion of support in areas traditionally considered NSUI bastions. While competitors knocked on hostel doors and shared meals with students, NSUI’s top brass remained insulated, fueling perceptions of elitism and detachment from student concerns.

Abhishek Goyat is an intern with The Indian Express