Candidates not required to deposit Rs 1 lakh to contest DUSU polls, varsity tells Delhi HC

The DU’s submission on Friday, made before Justice Mini Pushkarna, was recorded by the court which then disposed of the petition by two students and DUSU poll candidate aspirants Anjali and Abhishek Kumar. The students had dubbed the varsity’s move as unconstitutional and argued that such a condition is akin to “preventive financial imposition”, thus creating an “arbitrary classification based on wealth”.

Last year, during the DUSU polls, the Delhi HC had rapped the university for defacement during the elections and had postponed the declaration of results by a month. In an order in November 2024, the High Court had recorded that DU, vide notification dated October 30, 2024, had constituted a ‘DUSU Election Reforms Committee’.

Among the reforms listed in the report by the committee was a bond “to be executed at the time of filing nomination paper to contest any post of office-bearer of College Union/DUSU for Rs. 1 lakh by the student for the act of any defacement during the course of study/election”.