Campus a mess,DU parties pulled up
Guidelines for DUSU polls state that defacement of property will be punished with disqualification,criminal proceedings.
Guidelines for DUSU polls state that defacement of property will be punished with disqualification,criminal proceedings.
Candidates of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls are supposed to follow several regulations during canvassing — the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines,the code of conduct as well as the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. But instances of violation of rules abound these elections.
According to the Lyngdoh Committee directives,a candidate cannot spend more than Rs 5,000 on the election. They are also not allowed to use printed material for canvassing.
The Defacement of Property Act,stipulates that “ whoever defaces any property in public view by writing or marking with ink,chalk,paint or any other material,except for purposes of indicating the name of the property owner,shall be punished”.
A notice issued by the office of the chief election officer,DUSU polls,says any violation of these rules “are liable to disqualification and criminal punishment”.
Showcause notices over the use of printed material were issued by the election office on Monday to four candidates of ABVP and NSUI.
On Tuesday,too,three more candidates — two from the Nationalist Student Congress and one from Dr Ambedkar Missionaries Vidyarthi Association — were issued showcause notices for violation of rules.
The notice has asked these students to reply within 24 hours,“failing which suitable action shall be initiated”.
Complaints regarding the defacement of property,however,have not been received by the election office till now.
Chief election officer Dr C S Dubey said,“We received complaints against NSUI and ABVP regarding printed pamphlets being distributed by them. However,no one has come to us regarding defacement of property. The university was approached by an NGO a few weeks ago regarding this. Following this,we realised that people did not know about the Defacement of Property Act and we put up the Act on the university website.”
NSUI spokesperson Amrishpandey Ranjan said,“ This is an attempt by other parties to bring down our candidates who are strong contenders for the various DUSU posts. The printed material could have been produced by anyone in the name of our candidates. We are going to reply to the letter after taking into consideration the technical details of the clause.”
Rohit Chahal,the state secretary of ABVP,also voiced similar views. “We have told the election office that our party members have only used hand-made posters. We don’t know who have been distributing printed pamphlets in our name.”
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