D-Day at DU Campus

A five-hour wait for the result was filled with speculations. Before the result was announced,a National Students Union India (NSUI) supporter shared some intelligence: “NSUI has bagged all the four positions,” he said. After some time,however,the “intelligence reports” shifted to Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad ( ABVP) winning all the four posts. Finally,at around 1 pm,the real story came out,with the candidates emerging from the barricaded Election’s Office — winners leading the procession,flashing victory signs. The ABVP bagged three posts — vice-president (Vikas Choudhary),secretary (Vikas Yadav) and joint-secretary (Deepak Bansal),while NSUI candidate Ajay Chikara is the new DUSU president.

Perched on the shoulders of frenzied party members,the winners sported garlands,while the non-winners chose to make a hasty exit. One of them was Mrityunjay Kumar Mishra,the presidential candidate from a less popular All India Democratic Students’ Organisation. “I realised our position even before the result was announced,and left,” he said. But he claimed to know where they fell short. “The elections seem to be a fight for money,not thought. Besides,the rains did much damage,” he said dismally.

With 41 candidates in the fray,the main players were clearly the NSUI and the ABVP. Others were ineffective. Amit Srivastav,the presidential candidate of All India Students’ Association,who lost to NSUI,said his party’s work throughout the year got him 2073 votes (ranking third),but they lost on account of low glamour quotient. “Our hard work turned ineffective in front of freebies and rain-dance parties thrown by other parties. We believe in standing by our agendas and not use sops to gain support. Also,our base was strong in the North Campus but we lost out in the South,” he said.