ABVP clinches DUSU prez post; NSUI sweeps the rest

ABVP wrested the president's post in the DUSU elections from the NSUI which bagged the other three top posts.

The BJP8217;s students wing ABVP made a dent in NSUI8217;s dominance in the Delhi University Students8217; Union polls, wresting the President8217;s post from the Congress8217; students body which won the other three top slots.

ABVP8217;s Nupur Sharma became the new President of DUSU while NSUI bagged the posts of Vice President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary, varsity election officials said after the counting of votes. Sharma got 10,345 votes while her rival Sonia Sapra of NSUI polled 8,606 votes. 8220;I will rectify the wrongs done by NSUI during the last five years,8221; Sharma said.

Regarding the poor turn out of voters, she said the election system needs a change so that more students will take interest in exercising their franchise. NSUI8217;s Manohar Naagar was elected to the post of vice president while Amit Chaudhary won the General Secretary8217;s seat.

Ashish Gehlot won the joint secretary8217;s post. They defeated the ABVP candidates. Naagar polled 8,804 voted against his rival Vasu Rukhar who got 7,956 votes. Similarly, Chaudhary defeated Anupriya Yadav of ABVP by 664 votes while Gehlot won by a margin of about 4,000 votes.

Soon after the results were declared, both the camps took out victory processions. The winners were greeted by their supporters and sweets were distributed.

Congress8217; student wing NSUI has been dominating the students8217; union for the last five years and had clinched all the four top posts last year with Amrita Bahri winning the president8217;s slot.

The candidatures of NSUI8217;s Bhawna, Tanupriya Gupta and Deepti Deswal were rejected during scrutiny of nomination papers. NSUI spokesperson Anand Pandey, however, said it had no effect on the results.

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Bahri said that NSUI has retained majority in the polls. 8220;We have the majority. Now it is up to Sharma to cooperate with us,8221; she said.

After losing the presidential race, a visibly unhappy Sapra said that the students 8220;misunderstood her that she was not capable of doing the job8221;.

About 65 officials were engaged in counting of votes that started at 9 AM amid tight security. The polls were conducted yesterday at 36 booths in the north campus and affiliating colleges in which an estimated 40 per cent voters turned up to cast votes.

The elections witnessed aggressive campaigning by both the rival camps with allegations from both sides about violation of model code of conduct.

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The university has set up a three-member committee to inquire into the alleged violations of the election code. The administration has received 11 complaints of violations of model code conduct by using posters and banners during campaigning.

Use of such items have been banned under the model code of conduct. These candidates, who include all the eight contestants from NSUI and ABVP, were issued notices to explain their stand on these charges.

8220;They have submitted their replies which are not satisfactory,8221; Rajesh Tandon, Additional Chief Returning Officer, said.