ABVP wins prez, two other posts, secy to be from NSUI
‘Anti-national’ elements were present on institute’s campus: Candidates
NEW DELHI: The ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Thursday bagged three posts, including that of the president, in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections.
The NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, won only one seat.
ABVP’S Ankiv Basoya won the presidential post with a margin of 1744 votes while party’s candidate Shakti Singh was declared as the vice president after he won with a margin of 7673 votes. NSUI’S Akash Choudhary won the secretary’s post while ABVP’S Jyoti emerged victorious on the joint secretary post.
Basoya got 20467 votes while his rival NSUI’S Sunny Chhillar got 18723 votes. Singh received 23046 votes against NSUI rival Leena’s 15373 votes.
Choudhary, the lone winning candidate of the NSUI, alleged that fair elections were not conducted and data of seven EVMS were missing. The Chief Electoral Officer in Delhi Thursday clarified that the Election Commission had not issued the EVMS used in DUSU elections and it seems to have been procured privately. The counting had to be suspended for a few hours following a glitch in the EVMS but was resumed in the evening amid considerable police deployment.
The NSUI demanded fresh polling, while the ABVP demanded resumption of counting.
“There are only eight candidates so how is it possible that votes were cast to a 10th candidate? All machines were fine on Wednesday. Police and administration are involved in this,” Fairoz Khan, NSUI president, alleged.
Later, all candidates agreed on the resumption of counting.
Celebrations broke out with the bursting of crackers and loud cheering at the Kingsway camp counting venue as the results were announced.
While the battle for DUSU has traditionally been the contest between the NSUI and the ABVP for years, the Left-affiliated AISA and Aam Aadmi Party’s CYSS allied and also vied for the central panel posts this time.
Amid heavy police presence and some last-minute wooing of voters, DUSU polls were held on Wednesday with a voter turnout of 44.46 per cent.
NEW DELHI: It was a fiery presidential debate ahead of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) polls, with candidates alleging that "anti-national" elements were present on the institute's campus.
The election to the JNUSU president's post is scheduled to be held on Friday.
In his speech, United-left panel candidate N Sai Balaji, a frontrunner for the top post, said, "Mobs are allowed to kill people and get away with it as they have the backing of the RSS and the central government, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The country has been turned into lynchistan."
"Demonetisation was a failure, there are no jobs as promised and there is a constant attack on higher education," Balaji said Wednesday night.
"The year started with violence of Bhima Koregaon and we recently saw the arrests of activists and academics. This government is employ- ing intimidating tactics. Here V-C is destroying the university, which the students have to reclaim," he said.
Referring to the Supreme Court's order that decriminalised homosexuality, Balaji said the "future is rainbow and not saffron".
Lalit Pandey, the candidate of the right wing ABVP, alleged that there were "anti-national" elements present on the campus and promised to "fix" them if voted to the post.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal's student wing has fielded a candidate for the first time in the JNUSU elections.
Its candidate Jayant Kumar much like the Congress-affiliated NSUI'S nominee, Vikas Yadav, attacked the Centre over reducing funding for higher education, and lowering the number of seats at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and scuttling with its reservation policy.
The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association's (BAPSA) presidential candidate, Thallapelli
Praveen, said his party represents the voice of students from oppressed classes on the campus. Praveen asked students to think beyond the left and right binary.
"The Left parties say that the BAPSA should not be voted for otherwise the ABVP will come. The ABVP is alive and among us and that is the contribution of Left politics on campus. Just don't get caught in the banner of left and right politics and work for the oppressed," he said.
Demanding their right to be included in the election process, some members of the university's Visually Challenged Forum formed a human chain in front of the stage, delaying the presidential debate further.
"We have written several times to the Election Commission (EC) about how the election process is inaccessible to us," said Dheeru Yadav, the convenor.
"We want to use braille for asking questions in the debate but we are not allowed. We have no arrangements for ourselves in the voting process. There are no sign language interpreters and hence the election process is not accessible for the hearing impaired," he added.
Ritesh Tomar, another member of the forum, said, "The EC did not listen to our demands for asking questions in the braille format. The members think it will raise doubts of manipulation in the mind of contenders. For the EC, the doubts of candidates are more important than making election accessible".
Besides routine campaigning, candidates in the JNUSU polls are supposed to give speeches about their agenda at the presidential debate, which is followed by a round of questions.
The event was conducted on the lines of the US Presidential debate and is a sought after affair.
The JNUSU debate is a deciding factor for the union elections.