DUSU 2018: ABVP pips NSUI to win posts of president, vice president and joint secretary

ABVP's Ankiv Basoya, Shakti Singh and Jyoti Choudhary win as president, vice president and joint secretary of DUSU respectively. NSUI candidate Akash Choudhary wins the post of secretary

ABVP's over NSUI for vice president and secretary is 8000 and 100 votes respectively

ABVP leading with 60 votes for president post. 

Looks like tables have turned. Now, ABVP leading on three top posts -  president, vice president and joint secretary- after 10 rounds of counting. Initial trends before the counting was suspended, NSUI was the top contender for the president’s post.

Counting to start from seventh round, another ten round of counting left

NSUI demanded that fresh polling be held for the DUSU election, while the ABVP demanded the counting of votes.

There are only 8 candidates, so how is it possible that votes were cast to a 10th candidate? All machines were fine yesterday. Police and administration are involved in this: Fairoz Khan, National President, NSUI 

One EVM shows NO votes for NSUI candidate. Remarkable coincidence that malfunctioning EVMs always seem to favor BJP and its affiliates: Ruchi Gupta, AICC incharge, NSUI

One EVM shows NO votes for NSUI candidate. Remarkable coincidence that malfunctioning EVMs always seem to favor BJP and its affiliates

— Ruchi Gupta (@guptar) September 13, 2018

AISA-CYSS activists also camping outside, demanding for the resumption of counting

Counting arena dominated by NSUI workers. Only handful of ABVP supporters at the community hall.

Ruchi Gupta, AICC Jt Secretary and National in-charge of NSUI, in discussion with election committee officials overseeing the talks between the committee and Delhi Police.

Counting suspended for today. We are holding a meeting and will announce the final decision by evening, said VK Kaul, election officer

ABVP secretarial candidate Sudhir Dedha forcibly tries to enter community hall by breaking glass door.  NSUI demands reelection. ABVP wants counting to resume

Counting suspended for the day. Violence breaks out. ABVP supporters run amok try to forcibly enter the counting centre. Final decision on resuming counting only by evening

Reportedly six evms malfunctioned during counting after which supporters and candidates disrupted the counting

NSUI and ABVP supporters create ruckus outside the hall; start protesting and raising slogans against election committee

Counting suspended for the day. Officials will take a final call this evening: Officials

"We had proposed rectification of the faulty EVMs and resumption of the counting but the students were not ready for it. It was decided to suspend counting. A fresh date for the counting will be announced soon," an election officer for DUSU polls said.

More security force have been deployed to the counting hall. Currently, there is heavy deployment even as all the Electronic Voting Machines have been sealed 

Counting has been temporarily halted till further orders after clashes broke out between allegedly between ABVP and NSUI members. One windowpane of the community hall was broken

At the end of sixth round of counting, NSUI presidential hopefull Sunny Chillar and ABVP’s vice presidential candidate Shakti Singh leading. CYSS’s Sunny Tanwar front runner for joint secretary . Ten more rounds to go.

Counting halted twice since it started due to some technical error in EVMs, according to reports. There was almost an hour-long disruption while the sixth round was underway

AAP had unsuccessfully contested DUSU polls in 2015 when AAP came to power

AISA-CYSS alliance which debuted on the campus as third front, fails to make a mark

Voter turnout over the past 8 years since 2010

2010-35%

2011-32%

2012-40%

2013-43.3%

2014-44.4%
2015-43%

2016-36.9%

2017-42.8%

2018-44.5%

Fifth round of counting is underway. Buzz is that chillar of NSUI is taking a lead on the top seat while ABVP is gaining ground on the remaining three posts

ABVP wants to regain lost ground. It faced an embarrassing drubbing at the hands of NSUI last year. Counting centre has been turned into a fortress with heavy police presence and barricading.

ABVP wants to regain lost ground. It faced an embarrassing drubbing at the hands of NSUI last year

Counting underway at Community Center, Kingsway Camp. Started at 8:30am. Heavy police deployed outside the counting centre Candidates arrived along with supporters around 9. Frisked properly with metal detector for security reasons. Not allowed to carry even mobile phones inside the hall. Highest voter turnout in 11 years-44.5 per cent Last year it was 42.8 per cent.

In a keenly contested polls, both NSUI and ABVP are hopeful of a clean sweep. Ankiv Baisoya of ABVP and Sunny Chillar NSUI presidential candidates are vying for the top posts

Oustide support? 

They have been roaming the Delhi University campus for two weeks, trying to blend with fellow students. These clusters of students look the part but small things give them away — their heavily-accented Hindi or refusal to haggle with rickshaws outside Vishwavidyalya metro station. Read the full report

According to the latest info pouring in the ABVP has so far won 71 seats in 19 colleges including Hindu College, SRCC, Kirori Mal College, Bhagat Singh (Morning), Zakir Hussain (Morning), Dyal Singh (Morning). The NSUI has won 75 seats in 20 colleges including Sri Venkateswara College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dhara College, Zakir Hussain College and Aryabhatta College.

In the run up to the General Election of 2019, political parties and politicians may learn from a “litmus test” of young India’s mood as major student union elections are being conducted across the country. From across universities in Rajasthan and Punjab University to the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), students have just exercised their franchise. As usual, DUSU and JNUSU are the most keenly watched and not just in the national capital.The results promise to be even more interesting in Delhi where, for the first time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has contested the elections in alliance with the left-leaning All India Students Association.

Read full DNA edit