Delhi Congress legislative party met on Saturday to discuss the upcoming elections for the Delhi University Student’s Union which last year saw arch-rival ABVP rout the party’s student wing NSUI. The prestigious elections for the students association of Delhi University will be held on September 9 this year, and the NSUI will try to make a comeback a year after its worst drubbing in eight years.

The legislative party members discussed the students polls and the strategy to be adopted in a meeting that was also attended by senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, who has in the past played crucial role in strategising and planning for the polls.

The elections for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) will be held on September 9. The university has decided to accept nominations from students till August 29. The scrutiny of documents will take place on the last day itself.

The nominated candidates will be allowed to withdraw by September 1. The list of final nominations will be put up later that day. Voting will take place from 8.30am to 12.30pm for morning colleges and from 4pm to 8pm at evening colleges.

DU has appointed professor Usha Rao from the biology department as the chief election officer. The schedule for counting of votes and declaration of results will be declared later.

After welcoming its freshers following a long admission season, Delhi University is now gearing up for its much-celebrated students union elections when major student parties will throw in their weights to make their presence felt.

Warming up for the battle, the two major political heavyweights — ABVP and NSUI — student wings of the BJP and Congress respectively — welcomed freshers to colleges.

Beginning the exercise to organise the election, the Vice Chancellor too has appointed Prof Usha Rao of the Botany department as the Chief Election Officer for the conduct of the DUSU elections for the year.

The Vice Chancellor has also appointed the Principals of the colleges and Heads of Institutions affiliated to the University Students Union as election officers for the conduct of elections of the office bearers and members of the central council of DUSU, the University said in a statement.

The elections last year saw Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad dislodge the National Students Union of India’s eight-year hold on DU’s student body.

While ABVP, which now controls the students panel, will look to hold on to its position, the Congress-affiliated NSUI will look to strike back after a poor show last year.

The results of the elections to the Delhi University Students’ Union, in which the RSS-backed ABVP bagged three posts, while the Congress-controlled NSUI had to rest content with just one seat, are being seen in the political circles here as a reflection of the mood prevailing in the city.

The ABVP, which wrested control of the DUSU after a gap of 8 long years, made crucial changes in its candidate-selection process and voter-contact procedures, in keeping with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee. The fact that the role of money power had diminished significantly too helped its case.

In an obvious reference to Rahul Gandhi, BJP said the NSUI’s defeat in Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls indicates the country’s youth does not accept leaders who “visit Dalit villages wearing Reebok shoes”.

After eight years, the students’ wing of the BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, won three out of four posts in the Delhi University Students’ Union election. In the results declared on Saturday, ABVP’s Jitender Chaudhary of Department of Buddhist Studies won the post of president by defeating NSUI’s Harish Choudhary by a margin of 1,943 votes.

Apart from president, ABVP won the election for the posts of vice-president and secretary while NSUI bagged the post of joint-secretary. ABVP’s Priya Dabas and Neetu Dabas won the posts of vice-president and secretary respectively, while Akshay Kumar of the NSUI was elected joint-secretary. AISF’s Aparajitha Raja, daughter of CPI leader D Raja, was third in election for the post of president by bagging 2,999 votes.

The usual fervour associated with Delhi University (DU) was missing in both north and south campuses as the students of 51 colleges voted to elect their representatives on Friday. A total of 11 candidates are contesting for the post of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) president in the election, while 30 other candidates are vying for the three posts of vice president, secretary and joint secretary.

The over all voter turn out this year was 35 per cent as compared to 42 per cent last year.

A low turnout was seen at colleges where traditionally the turnout used to be healthy. On the North Campus, Kirori Mal College recorded around 35% turnout as 1210 votes were polled out of 3,500. In the colleges not on the campus like Satyawati, only 42% votes were polled when 786 of the total of 1,810 students turned up for the polls. Meanwhile, Hansraj and Rajdhani recorded 25% and 26% voter turnout respectively. But Shri Ram College of Commerce ( SRCC) managed a better turnout with 50% votes polled.

Though the entire election process remained peaceful, DU authorities did receive complaints of use of printed material on the day of polling. All kind of printed material, included pamphlets, posters and stickers have been banned for campaigning. Also, some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at Shri Ram College of Commerce, Shyam Lal College and Vivekanand College were reported to have malfunctioned. “All these machines were replaced within 10 to 15 minutes,” According to chief electoral officer and DU proctor, Gurmeet Singh.

Delhi University students on Friday cast their votes to elect a new union in a poll which will decide the fate of 41 candidates. Tight security arrangements have been put in place and Electronic Voting Machines were used for the polling. “As many as 943 EVMs have been pressed into service. There are 111 centres for the college elections and 130 for DUSU,” said Chief Electoral Officer Gurmeet Singh.

A total of 11 candidates are contesting for the post of DUSU president in the election, while 30 other candidates are vying for the three posts of Vice President, Secretary and Joint Secretary.

In coordination with Delhi Police, security arrangements have also been made, and a police picket will be in place outside every college where centers are located.

Interestingly, the electioneering was quitest and cleanest for this year’s DUSU poll.

The presidential candidates for this year’s DUSU elections are: candidates include Jitender Choudhary of ABVP, Harish Choudhary of NSUI, Shweta Raj of AISA, Aparajiths Raja of AISF, Sachin Kumar Dalal of INSO and Sunand of SFI, among others.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has fielded two girl students in the election while National Students Union of India (NSUI) restricted itself to one.

ABVP and NSUI have not fielded any woman candidates for the President while All India Students Association and AISF have put up woman candidates.

The DUSU elections are bastion of ABVP and NSUI till 2009 but left back students union AISF is confident of winning the DUSU election 2010. Last year AISF lost the presidential election by just 11 votes.

Over 95,895 students are expected to cast their ballots in the election.

The campaigns that used to be pasted on the walls earlier are now being carried out on blogs and social networking sites. Taking the lead is the BJP-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

A letter to the Chief Election Officer has been posted on the blog detailing the criminal record of Harish Chaudhary, NSUI president candidate for the September 3 polls. The letter further mentions the name of the FIR number and the police station where the case has been registered.

Demanding cancellation of his nomination, Jitendra Chaudhary, the ABVP said, “There is no way to prove that we had fudged with the FIR copy as it was registered way back on September 15 last year. The FIR No. 379 was recorded at Mansarovar Park police station.”

Further after last year’s rejection of various candidatures for DUSU polls for not following the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, student bodies this year are playing safe. Instead of printed banners and posters, they are heavily trying to reach out to young voters through social networking sites, blogging and SMSes.

The ABVP has already instituted an IT cell consisting of 6-10 members, enthusiastically working to promote their agendas. Archrival NSUI and other parties are making efforts to woo their vote bank through posts on social networking sites.

All the candidates have also been allotted 10 minutes of time on the local DU community radio channel for promoting their agendas.
Polling for the DUSU elections will be held on September 3 between 8.30 am and 12.30 pm for day classes, and 3 to 7 pm for evening classes.

The NSUI and ABVP announced their candidates for the September 3 Delhi University Students Union election, as the last date for withdrawing of nominations ended today leaving 41 contestants in the fray. Harish Choudhary, a student of SGBT Khalsa College, is NSUI’s candidate for the post of president while Jitender Choudhary of MA (Budhist Studies) will be his rival from the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

A total of 11 candidates will compete for the post of president in the election which will see a total of 30 other candidates vie for the three posts of Vice President, Secretary and Joint Secretary.

For the post of Vice President AA Vardhan Choudhary of NSUI will be in direct contest with ABVP’s Priya Dabas.

Gurmeet Singh, DU’s Chief Election Officer, said a total of 190 students, including 53 for president and 47 for vice president, had filed nomination papers on Tuesday, but after withdrawal by many and disqualification of some 41 remain in fray.

“Out of this 11 are for President, 10 for Secretary, and 9 each for Vice President and Joint Secretary,” he said.

Fifty-three candidates  filed their nominations for the post of the President of Delhi University Students Union election, which will be held on September 3. The Chief Election Officer of DUSU said besides 53 names received for the post of President, 47 students filed nominations for the post of Vice President, 43 for Secretary and 47 again for Joint Secretary.

While four candidates of National Students Unions of India filed their nominations, 10 students of its rival Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) submitted their papers.

NSUI, which for the first time picked up its four candidates through an election process instead of nominations, said it would come out with a detailed manifesto on Friday.