Approval from education boards must for students wanting to change name: Delhi University

“It is hereby notified that it is mandatory for students seeking change of name to get his/her name changed from CBSE/state boards/other related boards first,” said an official notification.

In 2014, the All India Students’ Association (AISA) had moved the Delhi High Court on this practice, following which the court in September last year asked the university to take a decision on the matter.

Several candidates, including current DUSU president Satender Awana from ABVP and his opponent Pradeep Vijayran from NSUI, had prefixed their name with ‘AAA’ hoping to secure more votes as many confused voters click the top button by default.

However, both ABVP and NSUI welcomed the move and said such a practice was followed by individuals, not organisations.

“It is a welcome move by DU. Over the last few years this name changing has become a culture, but as an organisation we have never encouraged it. But it’s not like people won because of that. Several of our candidates also won without prefixing their names because people vote for ideologies,” said ABVP state secretary Saket Bahuguna. However, he expressed his reservation about the move being a successful deterrent.

NSUI national president Roji M John also welcomed the move and said it would shift focus to real issues. “It will discourage people from changing their names. It is high time that such practices should go. While some of our candidates did indulge in the practice, we never took it into consideration while giving out tickets,” he said.

Applauding the “intent” of the notice as a welcome step, AISA state president Anmol Ratan said the rule needed to be “strictly implemented”.
“The administration should have clearly stated that the candidate must have all his/her certificates (10th and 12th, migration etc) received from the school board changed so that there is no lack of clarity,” he said.