DUSU polls: ABVP stages major comeback

In a near sweep, Sangh Parivar’s students wing ABVP today bagged three out of the four top posts in the Delhi University Students Union after a gap of seven years, giving a jolt to Congress’ NSUI.

The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad won the three posts, including that of the president, with convincing margins in an election that was marked by an unusually sober election campaign and very low voting percentage.

This is for the first time in seven years that the ABVP has won three out of the four posts of the DUSU, and the organisation was quick to label it as a mandate against the state
the central governments as well as against the handling of the Commonwealth Games.

Last year, an independent candidate, Manoj Chaudhury, had won the post of DUSU President after a gap of 18 years following the disqualification of NSUI and ABVP candidates for violation election norms. The NSUI had won the Secretary’s seat while ABVP bagged the Vice-President’s post.

Jitender Choudhary of MA (Budhist Studies) won the post of President this time while Priya Dabas was elected as Vice President.

Jitender defeated NSUI’s Harish Choudhary, a student of SGBT Khalsa College, by a margin of 1,943 votes, polling the maximum number of 9,259 votes in the elections.

Priya Dabas, who polled 8,679 votes, came ahead of NSUI’s A A Vardhan by 1,518 votes in Vice President polls.

Neetu Dabas, who was elected the new Secretary, won with the largest margin, defeating her NSUI rival Deepika Deswal by 4.495 votes.

Akshay Kumar, the only saving grace for the NSUI, was elected Joint Secretary. He defeated ABVP’s Saurabh Uniyal by a mere 626 votes. Kumar polled 6,831 votes.

Other parties continued their dismal showing and failed to open account.

AISF’s presidential candidate Aparajitha, daughter of CPI leader D Raja, polled 2,999 votes, coming third behind the ABVP and NSUI candidates.

“This is a historic victory, and a manifestation of the support of all students. I would call this a mandate against the state government, the central government and the corrupt handling of the Commonwealth Games,” a jubilant Ashutosh Srivastava, state secretary of ABVP, said.

“This also a statement against the so-called youth wave of Rahul Gandhi, as this is a totally a mandate of the youth,” he said. “We lost the fourth seat because of less voting during the evening due to rains,” he said.

While there was jubilation in the ABVP camp, the NSUI activists were disappointed at the shock defeat.

“This is unfortunate for us, we accept the students verdict, and we will analyse the shortcomings in the coming time. This is a time for us to introspect,” said Shahnawaz Chadhary, state secretary of NSUI which had dominated the DUSU elctions in 2007 and 2008.

However, he rejected ABVP’s suggestions that the verdict was a thumbs down to Rahul Gandhi and his youth activism.

Jitender, the new president, meanwhile, termed it a “big victory” and said his team would work to make sure that the election promises are fulfilled, including an early resolution to the issue of the semester system on which the teachers and the administration are at loggerheads leading to disruption of classes.

“This is a victory of the students. We will take everybody along, we will work against the imposition of the semester system which has harmed the interests of students,” a beaming Jitender said as the triumphant ABVP candidates accompanied by party activists marched in a victory procession.

Neetu, who romped home with the largest margin, said the party activists had worked hard to connect to the students and it had paid off.

“It’s not about giving pompous statements like we have conquered the panel. We do not see it this way. For us it is now about how we fulfil our pledges,” said Priya Dabas, the vice presidential winner.

Responses