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Ashutosh Singh, ABVP National Media Convener, told The Indian Express, “We’ve divided the campus into different zones; our units in colleges of each zone let us know as to which person is more active, can mobilise people and bring in votes. It could be a woman or a man, it doesn’t matter. We go by this year-long survey and finalise candidates.”

A student party official, who wished to be anonymous, pointed out: “As per my analysis, female students at off-campus colleges, hailing from outskirt areas, actively take part during elections… those who perhaps go to North Campus colleges come from far away states and are not so familiar with Delhi-NCR and, hence, do not show much participation.”

Scroll down to read what past DUSU presidents had to say about the increasing competition in the path to enter national politics as we move to the lone president who got a ticket.

The lone exception to this trend has been Rocky Tuseed, who won the DUSU presidency in 2017 as a candidate from the Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI).

In 2020, Tuseed was given a ticket to contest the Delhi Assembly election in the Rajinder Nagar constituency, though he finished third behind the Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha. Despite his loss, Tuseed remains one of the few recent DUSU leaders to have contested a major election.

Tuseed, now serving as National Secretary of the Congress’s youth wing, attributes his political rise to the party’s emphasis on youth leadership.

Stay tuned to follow their trajectory and live updates on the elections!

Scroll down to read what past DUSU presidents had to say about the increasing competition in the path to enter national politics as we move to the next president who led DUSU in 2016-17.

Amit Tanwar, DUSU president in 2016-17, further emphasised that student politicians in the ABVP must start from scratch if they wish to join the BJP. “Both are not closely associated with each other. It is only the ideology that matches. Even if one wins the election from the ABVP in DUSU and becomes a president, if that same person wants to join the BJP, he or she will have to start from zero,” Tanwar stated.

After his DUSU presidency, Tanwar became a “Vistarak Karyakarta” in the ABVP, where he worked to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Now, Tanwar serves as the district vice-president of Mehrauli in Delhi, alongside his academic role as an Assistant Professor at Delhi University’s Motilal Nehru College.

Stay tuned to follow their trajectory and live updates on the elections!

Looking at DUSU panels over the years, one thing stands out — they have mostly comprised upper-caste members, particularly from the Jat and Gurjar communities.

Former DUSU president Shakti Singh, who calls himself the “only Rajput president” of DUSU over the years, said Jats and Gurjars have a slight advantage: “They have more of a voice in DU as they hail from NCR. Regional influence gives them an edge.”

An official from a student party, who wished to remain anonymous, elaborated further: “Although DU attracts students from across the country, tickets are often awarded to local candidates from Delhi’s influential Jat and Gurjar communities. Over the past decade, every DUSU president has come from these two dominant groups. This trend can only change if all DU colleges, including minority and women’s colleges, participate. This will increase the range of voters and the kind of candidates they align towards.”

The Indian Express tracked DUSU presidents in the past decade to see where they are now. We looked back at ABVP's Aman Awana (2013-14)'s journey, here's the next president who led DUSU a decade ago what he is doing now.

Mohit Nagar won the DUSU presidency in 2014-15 and later joined the ABVP full-time while pursuing a Master’s degree in law at Delhi University.

Although he continued his political journey, Nagar, now 32, acknowledges that rising from student to national politics has become significantly more challenging. Currently serving as the Delhi State Secretary of the BJP’s youth wing, Nagar holds a key post as the in-charge for Northeast Delhi, organising campaigns such as blood donations and food drives to engage with young voters.

Stay tuned to follow their trajectory and live updates on the elections!

The Indian Express tracked DUSU presidents in the past decade to see where they are now.

“In the past 20 years, not a single elected DUSU member has made it big in national politics. Not a single member has become an MLA,"

Aman Awana, who led DUSU in 2013-14 as a representative of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), quit politics in 2019 after a decade, ending a long association with the ABVP and the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

He pointed to the increased competition within the BJP since Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014 as a factor contributing to the slow transition of ABVP leaders to national politics.

Six years after he won the president post at DUSU in the 1970s, Jaitley joined the BJP. Maken was elected as a member of the Delhi Assembly after he won the DUSU president post in 1985. In Sharma’s case, it took her seven years after she won the DUSU election to contest in the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015 against former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Aman highlighted how outsiders and young BJP workers alike now compete for the same positions, making the road to national prominence much longer and more difficult.

Stay tuned to follow their trajectory and live updates on the elections!

The turnout for this year’s Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election — 35.2% — was markedly lower than last year’s 42%. By 5.45 pm on Friday evening, only 43,451 students had voted, among the 1.45 lakh eligible across 52 colleges.

This year’s election saw a mere 40% turnout at Ramjas College by midday. At Hindu College, it was around 36% in the first phase, while at Miranda House, the first phase reported a turnout of just 15%. DUSU polls are held in two phases – one in the morning and the other in the evening.

At Ramjas College, students like Anshul Drall, an 18-year-old second-year History honors student, expressed disillusionment with the process. “Many didn’t come out to vote because no one sees any change anymore… Last year, they promised us a men’s common room. We still haven’t gotten one.”

At Kirori Mal College, the turnout hovered at 33% in the first phase, down from 36% the previous year. “The voting has been very calm,” said Principal Dinesh Khattar. “We haven’t seen a huge difference in turnout compared to last year, but it is still lower.”

The mood at Miranda House was also subdued. Palak Sharma, a third-year B A student, criticised the university’s decision to declare a holiday on voting day. “Why would a student travel for hours to come to campus just to vote?” she asked.

Indian Express

The polls were conducted more than one and a half months ago but a division bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela had stayed the counting on September 26 over allegations of large-scale defacement of sites across Delhi by poll candidates.

Advocate Prashant Manchanda filed an application, appearing as party-in-person. Subsequently, 15 DUSU candidates were added as parties to the application.

Disposing of the plea, the bench said, “The intent of the present proceedings was to ensure students (realise) that university property belongs to the public… students are allowed to use for a limited period and which they hold in trust for the next batch of students. It is the responsibility of the current students and candidates to ensure that the next batch gets to use the DU infrastructure in good and clean condition. Since candidates for DUSU elections are young, this court is of the view that they deserve a second chance. After all, the intent of the present proceeding is to reform and not punish. This court hopes that a clear message has gone to the student community at large and to the candidates who contested this year as well as those students who plan to contest in future.”

Twenty-one candidates are vying for the four central panel posts. Eight are contesting for the post of president, five for vice-president, and four each for the posts of secretary and joint secretary. The key players in the elections are the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI), and the Left-alliance of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and Students' Federation of India (SFI).

The battle for the post of president is expected to be closely fought between ABVP's Rishabh Chaudhary, NSUI's Rounak Khatri, and AISA's Saavy Gupta.

For the post of vice president, ABVP's Bhanu Pratap Singh, NSUI's Yash Nandal, and AISA's Ayush Mondal are in contention.

For the secretary's position, ABVP's Mitravinda Karanwal is competing against NSUI's Namrata Jeph Meena and SFI's Anamika K, while the joint secretary's post has ABVP's Aman Kapasia facing NSUI's Lokesh Choudhary and SFI's Sneha Aggarwal.

Currently, RSS-affiliated ABVP holds most seats in the student body with the posts of president, joint secretary and secretary with them. The Congress's student wing NSUI holds the vice-president's post.

Good Morning!

The counting of votes for the long-delayed Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections began at North Campus here on Monday, almost two months after polling.

21 are vying for the four central panel posts. Eight are contesting for the post of president, five for vice-president, and four each for the posts of secretary and joint secretary. The key players in the elections are the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI), and the Left-alliance of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and Students' Federation of India (SFI).

The battle for the post of president is expected to be closely fought between ABVP's Rishabh Chaudhary, NSUI's Rounak Khatri, and AISA's Saavy Gupta.

Stay tuned for live updates!