DUSU polls: Delhi High Court reiterates no vote counting until defacement of public property is cleaned up

While the counsel representing the candidates informed the court that not all candidates were indulging in such activities of defacement of properties, CJ Manmohan remarked, “Please convince the rich candidates who have been coming in Bentleys for campaigning… Free food was being distributed, I have not even seen this (expenditure) in a general election… You, as candidates, must correct the system. DU is not seizing the leadership; there is a crisis of leadership… You get it cleaned and repainted first, we will allow the counting to take place the next day.”

“Every day in the city, some crisis or the other is happening. There is dengue, malaria. It’s all because we are littering… And this is a festival of democracy, it is not supposed to be a festival of money laundering,” CJ Manmohan remarked.

On September 26, the Delhi High Court directed that the counting of votes for the DUSU polls, held on September 27, be stayed until the defacement of properties is cleaned. The direction came after advocate Prashant Manchanda, in an application before the court, pointed out the large-scale defacement of public and private properties during the DUSU election campaign.

The court now posted the matter for further consideration on October 21.