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Religious Politics: ABVP Members Seek Blessings, NSUI Files a Complaint

By Kartik Chauhan September 12, 2019

National Students Union of India (NSUI) issued an official complaint against the candidates of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for visiting the Jhandewalan Mandir on Sunday, 8th September 2019 and posting about the same on social media.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI) recently condemned its opponent, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for adopting the practice of religion and religious symbols for the purpose of political campaigning which stands in direct violation of the Lyngdoh guidelines which all students contesting the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections are supposed to abide by, in order to not encounter direct disqualification.

In 2005, the Supreme Court decided to set up a committee to ensure measures that would hamper disruption caused by college elections. Following the order of the Supreme Court, a panel was set up by the ministry of Human Resource Development headed by the then Chief Election Commissioner, J.N Lyngdoh for the same, limiting the democratic functioning of the Student Unions and was called The Lyngdoh Committee.

The Lyngdoh guidelines clearly state that:

“No candidate shall indulge in, nor shall abet, any activity, which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic, or between any group(s) of students.”

According to the allegations made by NSUI, the following four candidates of Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), Akshit Dahiya (President nominee), Pradeep Tanwar (Vice President nominee), Yogit Rathee (Secretary Nominee) and Shivangi Kharwal (Joint Secretary Nominee) along with Professor Manu Kataria of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Science (State President of ABVP Delhi) were sighted using religious symbols for their campaigning. Later, a Facebook post was uploaded by the Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya in which they visited a famous temple in Delhi wearing religious garments while making an appeal to vote for them, which disregards the Lyngdoh guidelines for social media campaigning as well.

Apart from this, under the Delhi University Act, any Professor under the paid role of Central Government is not allowed to display their political affiliation in public but sources have also proclaimed that Mr. Manu Kataria endorsed candidates for the DUSU election, hence violating the Delhi University Service Rules.

As per sources, NSUI has registered a formal complaint on the issue and made a request to the Election Officer to constitute a Grievance Redressal Hearing against the violators under the Lyngdoh guidelines and withdraw their nomination at the earliest as it is against the norms of free and fair elections.

Shri Akshay Lakhra, NSUI Delhi State President stated, “NSUI will ensure no polarisation of University takes place. ABVP already used cheap rhetoric this election by illegally putting up the statue of a highly controversial figure Damodardas Savarkar. When the move failed, they retorted to further downgrade cheap theatrics of using religion as a tool to safeguard their defeated campaign. Delhi University students are not going to be fooled by such rhetoric of ABVP again after the fake degree issue, and would give a sounding reply to them in upcoming student union elections.”

Following this news, the students of University of Delhi didn’t take it as a surprise that candidates do not follow the guidelines established for running a campaign, they believe that the Lyngdoh Committee is not a solution to strengthen or improve the prevailing conditions of student politics and DU stands as a classic example of its failure in limiting money and muscle power politics.

Feature Image Credit: ABVP Media

Avni Dhawan

Pradeep Tanwar, Vice-Presidential Candidate, ABVP Interviewed Ahead of Elections

By Kartik Chauhan September 11, 2019

On 5th September, 2019, DU Beat conducted an interview with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Vice Presidential candidate, Pradeep Tanwar to know him and his perspective regarding the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

Pradeep Tanwar, is a graduate in B.A. Programme from P.G.D.A.V College. He’s currently pursuing his masters in Hindi from Deshbandhu College. He has been a part of ABVP since 2015, and believes his true interest lies in politics and solving students’ problems.

What are the main issues you and your party will focus on for DUSU 2019?

The main issues we will focus on are:

Metro concession pass: it’s unfair to ask a student who comes from a middle-class family to spend so much on travelling. Our biggest fight is for metro concession passes.
Hostels in South Campus: Except Venky (Sri Venkateswara College), there aren’t a lot of colleges that have hostels in south campus. We will work to establish these hostels.

To the common student, DUSU feels like an unapproachable political entity, what will you and your party do to ensure accountability to the students of University of Delhi?

I, along with other ABVP members, have went to each college to personally listen to the problems of students and solve them. Students get help from ABVP from the time they get their admission done to the date of their farewell. I will personally organise campaigns in each college to listen to students.

The incidents on Old Gupta Road and Hindu Rao Hospital highlight security concerns for those living in North Campus, what steps will you take to ensure safety and security on campus?

Of course, we’re working towards making campus safer. We’ve made a committee to look into this, and asses the cases to make campus student-friendly.

Campaigning every year uses up a tremendous amount of paper for pamphlets, posters etc., which then leads to litter on campus, what is your say on the matter?

These are how elections take place, it has become a method by all parties. ABVP doesn’t do littering as we’re always fighting for a clean campus.

University of Delhi (DU) was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to a payment of a 1000 crores over 5 years, however, the trend in 2019 in DU has been of increasing fees and hostel rates, why do you think this is so? And what will your party do to reduce fee hikes and hostel rates?

It’s the staff and other people involved who are using this money for their own benefits. We’re working constantly towards fighting fee hikes. We protest or petition, but we always get success for students. Deshbandhu College had raised its fees, we had protested there with the students.

The Lyngdoh Committee lays down 5000 rupees as the maximum expenditure amount, how does your party maintain it?

We always manage our campaigning under the budget. We follow all rules of the committee. ABVP works all year round so we don’t require high campaigning.

Which element differentiates you from the other contenders for the post of Vice President?

What differentiates me, is my affiliation to ABVP. Students will vote for me as ABVP is the only party that works year-round for the students on a ground level, unlike other parties.

Last year, there were allegations of EVM tampering against ABVP, also to be noted, the EVM’s were privately supplied and not by the Election Commissions, how do you plan to make sure elections are held fairly?

You ask this question to us on every meeting. I would like to inform that ABVP follows the rules of Lyngdoh committee very well. At this point, all other parties are non-existent and then they use these dirty tactics making politics intimidating for all.

ABVP Panel

President: Akshit Dahiya, Ballot No.1

Vice President: Pradeep Tanwar, Ballot No. 5

Secretary: Yogit Rathi, Ballot No. 3

Joint Secretary: Shivangi Kharwal, Ballot No. 4

Feature Image Credits : ABVP

Chhavi Bahmba

In Conversation with Akshit Dahiya, Presidential Candidate, ABVP for DUSU Elections 2019

By Kartik Chauhan September 11, 2019

On 5th September, DU Beat conducted a telephonic interview with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya ahead of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections 2019, to shed light on his opinions and views.

Akshit Dahiya is currently a first year L.L.B. student at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (DU). He’s also a graduate in B.Sc. Physical Sciences from Ramjas College, and a silver medallist in bodybuilding from University of Delhi (DU). He became a member of ABVP in 2016.

What are the main issues you will focus on as a presidential candidate?

Being a sportsperson, I strongly feel about encouragement of sports in University of Delhi (DU). Outside if you notice, all the students who win medals are of universities. Hence, I have a dream that in 2024 Olympics, it should be DU students representing India.

The other thing is DU special buses, I come from a very low metro connectivity area, so transportation from my home to the varsity became a task. That’s why, we would start these buses by making petitions.

There have been recent cases like the one on Old Gupta road or near Hindu Rao Hospital that seriously question the safety of students. Have you done anything to ensure the safety of students studying and living there?

We’ve already taken various steps. I did my entire campaigning on bi-cycles. I took 100 bi-cycles from college to college. I had two motives for it, one was of Green Delhi, it’s shameful for all, how we’re not contributing as individuals towards this issue. The other is, the scheme of closed campus. A lot of cars are driven in campus making students prone to accidents.

What are the few highlights of the ABVP manifesto for DUSU Elections, 2019?

Even though we’ll have an entire manifesto announcement, few points are:

Metro Concession passes: Metro is raising their fares constantly making it very expensive for a normal middle-class student of DU to travel.
Scholarships in University: ABVP is the only group that allotted 50% of their entire budged towards giving scholarships to sportsmen, PWD candidates, and Economically weaker students.
Holiday homework: All the students sit idle for the two months till 20th July until classes start. We’ve taken a target that will we provide 10,000 students with internships in summer vacation.

How inclusive is ABVP towards LGBTQIA+ students? Will they receive adequate representation?

It should be noted, that in our manifesto we have mentioned that we want free education for Transgender and the entire LGBT community.

DUSU seems an unapproachable entity to the common DU student. Will you take any steps for making it more student friendly and less intimidating?

I was never part of student politics earlier. I was a studious student. So, I’m well aware of the thought process of sports and study-oriented students and I will run a cycle of schemes and programmes to bring them to DUSU. Already ABVP-led-DUSU has done events like “She the Change” to increase the involvement of women and we will continue this even for cultural society members, and sports students as well.

Lyngdoh Committee has kept 5000 as maximum expenditure for campaigning. How do you and your party abide by it?

Our entire party follows this thoroughly as ABVP works on ground level and each student gets affiliated naturally. We work under those INR 5000 per candidate very easily.

Campaigning for DUSU often leads to littering in campus by all political parties. What steps have you taken to avoid this?

Our motive this time is Clean Campus. We will follow it in depth and thoroughly till the end. There is no way ABVP supports this. We have ensured that the campus had cleanliness. It’s just the other parties that don’t work all year round and then need heavy campaigning to win, unlike ABVP.

In 2017, many DU colleges proposed to be given autonomy, which could lead to privatisation of DU’s constituent colleges, are you for or against this, and why?

My opinion and what steps ABVP will take regarding this will only be revealed in our press conference soon.

Last year, there were allegations of EVM tampering against ABVP, how will you ensure that incidents like this don’t occur this year and how do you plan to make sure elections are held fairly?

The issue of EVM tampering came because on the post of secretary there were only eight candidates and yet votes had been given on a ninth ballot as well.

It shouldn’t be situated with us, as NSUI won the post of secretary making it evident as to who tampered EVMs. For us, democracy is above all. We have never engaged in undemocratic acts like these.

University of Delhi was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to a receipt of INR 1000 crores over 5 years, however, the trend in 2019 in DU has been of increasing fees and hostel rates, why do you think this is so? And what will your party do to reduce fee hikes and hostel rates?

We have worked a lot against fee hikes for students. Citing a few examples, there was Rajiv Gandhi Girls’ hostel which had increased its fee manifold, ABVP went there to protest and accomplished the goal of reducing their fees for students. At Ramanujan College, after they increased their fee by 100%, we protested there for the same.

In the end, I would just advise all the students to come and vote. We’ve struggled a lot in history to achieve voting rights for students. They should vote as this time elections will be held on the ideology of nationalism.

ABVP Panel

President: Akshit Dahiya, Ballot No.1

Vice President: Pradeep Tanwar, Ballot No. 5

Secretary: Yogit Rathi, Ballot No. 3

Joint Secretary: Shivangi Kharwal, Ballot No. 4

Feature Image credits : ABVP

Chhavi Bahmba

Miranda House Asks ABVP to ‘Go Back’

By Sakshi Arora September 10, 2019

The campaigning for Delhi University Students’ elections 2019 took an eventful turn in Miranda House as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and All India Students’ Association (AISA) came in to present their manifesto.

On 9th September 2019, Miranda House conducted its official manifesto reading, where it allowed the DUSU candidates to present their manifestos and carry out campaigning in the college. The students of Miranda House gathered in the college auditorium to attend the manifesto reading. However, it did not go as expected.

The Vice-Presidential candidate from ABVP, Pradeep Tanwar, came to address the students and present the manifesto of the party but he was met with chants of “ABVP! Go Back!”. The students of Miranda House led the chants for about seven minutes until the representatives of the party finally left.

Amidst the loud chants, the candidates tried to speak in favour of the party. Tanwar asked the students to let him speak for five minutes but on not being given any chance to speak, the representatives showed their ballot numbers and left.

This was followed by a scuffle between the ABVP members from Miranda House and the other Miranda students where the girls could be heard saying, “nahi chahiye humein ABVP (We don’t want ABVP)”, while the administration tried to control the situation.

ABVP’s departure was followed by AISA’s manifesto reading. When AISA’s Presidential Candidate, Damni Kain, came on the podium, most of the students from Miranda House started cheering for AISA, while, the ABVP members of Miranda House were heard chanting “AISA! Go Back!”.

“Aapka yeh response na ki sirf humare liye encouraging hai, but har us bacche ke liye encouraging hai jo DU ka common student hai; jo university mein sirf padhne ke liye aata hai, aur jo gundagardi ko tahe dil se reject karta hai (not only is your response encouraging for us, but also for every person who is a common student of DU; who comes to DU to study and rejects all forms of hooliganism)”, said Kain in her speech as a DUSU Presidential Candidate.

However, after Kain’s speech was over, an ABVP student member could be heard saying, “Manifesto reading mein manifesto toh bolte hi nahi ho. karne kya aaye the bhaisahab? (You didn’t talk about your manifesto in the manifesto reading. What were you even here for then?)”

As reported earlier, the members of ABVP had disrupted the Tempest’19, the Annual Cultural fest of Miranda House, and had demanded entry, banging and pushing the gate in lieu of then relevant, Hindu College’s V-Tree protest. Hence, the dissent against them came stronger.

Video Credits: Priya Chauhan for DU Beat

Video Caption: Chants of “ABVP, Go Back!” could be heard in the auditorium at Miranda House during ABVP manifesto reading.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Satviki Sanjay

Priya Chauhan

NSUI Alleges Attack on Vice-Presidential Candidate by ABVP

By Sakshi Arora September 10, 2019

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came under scrutiny as National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) blamed it for attacking their Vice-Presidential nominee Ankit Bharti, three days before the University goes for Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

On 9^th September, in a violent turn of events that followed a campaign by NSUI in College of Vocational Studies (CVS), their nominee for the post of Vice-President, Ankit Bharti, was was badly beaten up allegedly by members of ABVP. He was immediately rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for treatment.

NSUI has accused ABVP and its Vice-Presidential nominee Pradeep Tanwar for the attack. Whereas, ABVP denied any such charges. Ankit Bharti, in a video circulated, said, “I arrived at CVS in the morning to campaign where some AVBP goons thrashed me, deliberately entered my car and pulled me out and brawled with me.” showing the scars and wounds on his face and body.

ABVP’s spokesperson, on the other hand, claimed that ABVP was not involved in the incident. Monica Chaudhary, Media-in-Charge, ABVP said, “As far as we got information, the clash happened between Vice Presidential candidate Ankit Bharti and Secretary Candidate Aashish Lamba from NSUI.” The State Media Coordinator of ABVP, Ashutosh Singh, said that this is an attempt by NSUI to malign the image of ABVP because of the immense popularity and support it has been receiving from students of the University of Delhi (DU).

Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP in the evening filed a formal complaint against NSUI in Maurice Nagar Police Station for defaming ABVP when only a few days remain for campaigning. The letter mentioned that no ABVP activist was involved in this case and if their party is further dragged in this case, a defamation lawsuit would be filed against NSUI.

Image Caption : The complain filed by ABVP against NSUI citing fake accusations. Image Credits: ABVP — *Image Caption*: The complaint filed by ABVP against NSUI citing fake accusations.
*Image Credits*: ABVP

This is the third case this election season when an official nominee has been attacked while campaigning. Previously on 7^th September, Aftab Alam, the Vice Presidential candidate from All India Students’ Association (AISA) was injured amidst campaigning in Dyal Singh College, and on 6^th September, Shivangi Kharwal, the Joint Secretary candidate from ABVP was injured in Zakir Hussain College. The left-wing student party had also blamed ABVP for the incident while ABVP had blamed NSUI for the alleged attack on their candidate.

Apart for this, the ABVP has also been accused of instigating violence on the last day of filing of nomination forms, due to which many members of All India Students’ Federation (AISF) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were unable to file their nomination forms.

In the garb of these accusations, it would be interesting to see how well the saffron-clad student party fares in the upcoming DUSU elections, which is scheduled for 12^th September.

Video Credits: NSUI

Video Caption: Ankit Bharti explains the escalation at CVS, where he was allegedly attacked by the members of ABVP.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Priyanshu

AISA Demands Apology From ABVP Over Basoya Fraud

By Sakshi Arora September 9, 2019

All India Students’ Association (AISA) called for an apology from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for their last year’s original President, Ankiv Basoya, who held a fake college degree. The left-backed association also insisted that ABVP recall their current presidential contestation as atonement for the same.

On 7^th September, All India Students’ Association (AISA) released its manifesto for the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections. Kawalpreeet Kaur, President of the association’s Delhi State unit, took the opportunity to bring last year’s Ankiv Basoya fraud, back into the limelight.

During the 2018 DUSU elections, the Akhil Bharati Vidyarthi Parishad had fielded Ankiv Basoya’s candidature for the Presidential post. Basoya won the election and assumed the position of DUSU’s President. However, within a couple of months of his appointment, the validity of his College degree was questioned and was later, proven unauthentic. This was followed by Basoya losing his position and being kicked out of the Department of Buddhist Studies, where he was pursuing his Masters.

As reported by The Financial Express, Kaur recalled this embarrassing episode during the Press Conference and insisted on an apology from ABVP regarding the same. “The question is, ‘Will ABVP seek forgiveness?’” Kaur asked. She also added, “The outfit should apologise to the students and not contest the President’s post as a way to seek the students’ forgiveness.”

Kaur also added, “The University has been facing issues of fund cuts and fee hike under the Centre, but the ABVP has kept quiet.” She reinforced that despite having a mandate in DUSU and their party also being in power in Centre, ABVP did nothing to ensure new hostels or colleges were built.

This is not the first time AISA has tried to rally support against ABVP over this incident. Multiple posts across their social media encourage voters to keep cognizance of the episode and demand accountability.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Prisha Saxena

AISA Alleges Attack on Vice-Presidential Candidate by ABVP

By Sakshi Arora September 9, 2019

The Vice-Presidential Candidate of All India Students’ Association (AISA) was allegedly attacked by members and supporters of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Dyal Singh College.

In the University of Delhi (DU), the path of mainstream politics often crosses the town of vandalism, hooliganism, and violence. This time as well, the power play of violence came into play as ABVP has been accused of attacking the AISA Vice-Presidential candidate.

On 7^th September, in lieu of the upcoming DUSU elections, Aftab Alam, the Vice-Presidential candidate from AISA, was campaigning in Dyal Singh College’s premises when, as stated by him, the supporters and candidates from ABVP attacked him. According to AISA, both Alam and Madhurima Kundu, DU Secretary of AISA, were injured.

Aftab Alam, Vice President Candidate from AISA and the prime victim explained DU Beat the entire incident, he said, “We used the pass given to us to enter the college, I entered with few of my supporters. I could witness few people wearing the ABVP tag standing in the college as I was entering. They started shouting to me that this Desh Dhrohi (Anti-national) won’t come inside. I was astounded how they could blatantly say that.”

He continued that he ignored them and tried to move ahead. But, one of the guys from the other group came and pushed him, kept both of his hands on his chest and tried to stop him from going inside. To show support, his fellow supporters held his hand and kept on going forward. However, all the boys from the other end came and heckled him. They repeatedly tried to stop him from campaigning and going into the college building.

He added that, “When all of this chaos was happening, 3-4 policemen from Delhi police were present there. However, they chose just to observe from the side. I told the ABVP goons that I’m a candidate and I’ve been given a pass, as per regulations I’m supposed to enter. They told me, they wouldn’t let me go inside. After constantly asking them why? All they did were stall me by asking me my ID card repeatedly. I would’ve shown them the ID proof if they had any authority, which they clearly didn’t.”

As stated by Alam, the ABVP members even tried to provoke the Delhi policemen by saying “AISA is the one that insults you, we (ABVP) are the one that support you, why are you supporting them?”

He further added, “They pulled me back, they snatched the garlands in my neck and it came to a point where they intentionally tore off my shirt. I could feel their hands strategically placed on my body to tear off the shirt, that’s how I can say it wasn’t an accident. After that, they begun with their chanting, they chanted slogans like ‘Yeh tukde karne walo ko, Bharat se nikalo (Those who want separation, should be sent outside)’ to provoke us and fake nationalist slogans taught to them by RSS like ‘Vandematram and Bharat mataki jai’.”

He went on to state that Madhurima Kundu, DU secretary of AISA, went ahead to defend him, so a girl also came forward from their side. Allegedly, this girl started catastrophically snatching Kundu’s face, which led to her getting severally injured. Apparently, the Delhi police and security personnel was standing right there and just observing all of this.

Alam added, “They didn’t even try to interfere even once, even the lady police personnel did nothing seeing this horrific scene. And when they did act, they acted in pure bias of the ABVP; they started to thrift only AISA members and not them. It came to a point, where on one side there was AISA and on the other there was ABVP with Delhi police in the middle with slogans being chanted from both sides. In all of this aggression, all police did was call by people and observe. In just a few moments, the two candidates of ABVP came to us with more than 50 goons and bouncers. We step aside because they could easily overpower us with their manpower and as soon as they came, the police stepped aside which is evident in the circulated video. All of this didn’t let us in.”

On the other hand, the ABVP has refuted all such claims citing political agenda as an objective behind such statements by AISA. Pradeep Tanwar, the Vice Presidential candidate, ABVP told DU Beat regarding these allegations, “AISA is just finding new ways of campaigning. It’s just pure politics; there is no truth to any of these things. It should be noted, that ABVP candidates came much after AISA being there. They were already present there, and then we came. These are just ways of defaming ABVP.”

This is not the only case where ABVP has been accused of using manpower for unfair purposes in these elections. The candidates of the SFI and the AISF alleged that they were attacked and their nomination forms were torn by members of the ABVP in the North Campus on Wednesday. Those claims were also strongly opposed and refuted by the members of ABVP repeatedly.

In the times where candidates cannot even be touched, let alone harassed, incidents like these raise many red flags. The true desire of each DU student to want free and fair elections often seems like a distant memory.

Feature Image Credits: India Today

Chhavi Bahmba

ABVP Alleges Attack on Joint Secretary Candidate by NSUI

By DU Beat September 8, 2019

The student outfit alleged that the attack on its Joint Secretary candidate, Shivangi Kharwal, happened while she was campaigning in Zakir Husain College.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in a press release dated 6 September, alleged that Shivangi Kharwal – the party’s candidate for the post of the Joint Secretary in the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union – was “brutally attacked by political goons in league with [National Students’ Union of India], on the premises of the University’s Zakir [Husain] College.”

The press release quoted Ms Kharwal, “the victim of this malicious attack,” as saying that the attack was borne out of the NSUI’S “desperation owing to their sense of foreboding, regarding the uncomplimentary electoral denouement approaching them with inexorable certainty.” She said that the alleged attack reinforced the “misogynistic disposition of the NSUI.” She was also quoted as saying that she will file a complaint with the police “in a little while.”

While speaking to DU Beat, Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary of ABVP Delhi, told us that while Ms Kharwal was campaigning at Zakir Husain College, suddenly slogans of “ABVP Murdabad, SUI Zindabad” were raised. He alleged that around 40-50 people with sticks had gathered outside the college gate from where the candidate had entered. “The NSUI unit inside the college was in direct coordination with the people outside, which included some locals, few gundas and few of their sympathisers,” Mr Yadav said.

Mr Yadav further said that Ms Kharwal did not want to get into a conflict with the alleged attackers and she decided to end her campaign in the college and leave. However, Mr Yadav further alleged that when Ms Kharwal was leaving, the car that she was in was attacked. “People with stones and sticks and what not attacked the cars and even a few of our women supporters were tried to be held back. They were stopped from entering the car,” he said.

However, NSUI refuted the allegations. Saimon Farooqui, National Secretary of the student party, said, “When ABVP starts losing, they put fake allegations. NSUI was nowhere involved in the entire incident. ABVP’s candidate and [its] members brutally thrashed the students of Zakir [Husain] College last year and this year too, they were planning to do the same which wasn’t acceptable to the students. This resulted in students drawing them out of the college. All the students were ID card holders of Zakir [Husain] College. No one belonged to NSUI.”

We contacted Ms Kharwal but could not get a comment from her on time.

However, this does not seem to be a standalone incident; the DUSU elections, scheduled for 12 September, have seen multiple instances of alleged scuffles and violence till now. Almost all parties have accused each other of creating violence or attacking their candidates and supporters some or the other time.

Feature Image Credits: India Today

Prateek Pankaj

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