AAP: Result doesn’t reflect mood outside campus

Hours after ABVP swept all four posts, the CYSS released a statement on its “honourable vote percentage”. “Our brand of student politics without unaccounted money and muscle power has helped us secure an honourable vote percentage in our maiden attempt,” it stated.

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The party will analyse the results, said a source in AAP, admitting that lack of “college-level organisation” could have been one of the problems.

“This was one of the reasons we didn’t contest in the first year. While we made the decision to contest this election, we lack college-level organisation, compared to the other parties. That is something we will have to work on through the year; next year, we will be in a better position,” said a leader.

The party is also grappling with the idea that while the DUSU poll results may not entirely reflect the mood of voters beyond the campus, it does indicate that the popular wave, which had swept the AAP to a spectacular victory in the assembly elections earlier this year, may have subsided a bit.

There are also question marks on the party’s apparent inability to encourage reluctant voters — students uninvolved with campus politics — to cast their votes.

“It is true that our chances would have been higher if the voting percentage had been higher, like it was in the assembly elections. This would have meant that we managed to pull in those who were earlier apathetic to student elections,” said an AAP leader.

However, another leader argued against “reading too much” into the DUSU poll results. He pointed out that a few months before the assembly elections, the ABVP had emerged victorious in the DUSU polls as well.

“Then we went on to win 67 of the 70 seats in the assembly. If it didn’t point to the mood of Delhi then, it is hypocritical to suggest that it does so now,” he said.