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DUSU Elections 2017

Results: Delhi University Students’ Union Elections 2017

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After weeks of campaigning, the Delhi University Students’ Union Elections 2017 were held on Tuesday, 12th September in colleges across the University of Delhi. At the end of the day, the voter turnout was said to be 42.8%, which was a huge improvement from last year’s turnout of 34.3%. The results for the same were announced on the afternoon of 13th September.

Rocky Tusheed and Kunal Sehrawat from the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to the Indian National Congress, won the posts of President and Vice President respectively. This was an enormous leap for NSUI, as they emerged victorious over Rajat Choudhary and Paarth Rana from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS). ABVP has maintained monopoly over these 2 posts for the past 4 years in DUSU. The post of Secretary and Joint Secretary has been won by Mahamedha Nagar and Uma Shankar from ABVP.

However, in a recent turn of events, the counting of votes for the post of Joint Secretary is being taken to the Delhi High Court by NSUI. Neeraj Mishra, the National Communications In charge of NSUI, said, “The average NOTA vote count for the post of Joint Secretary had been declared as 5000, however ABVP claims the NOTA vote count to be 9000. Due to the discrepancies in these numbers, the matter of the final vote count will be moved to the High Court by NSUI”. The final tally of votes were, President: NSUI (16299), ABVP (14709). Vice-president: NSUI (16431), ABVP (16256). Secretary: ABVP (17156), NSUI (14532). The post of Joint Secretary has been won by Uma Shankar from ABVP as of now, however the final decision will be declared by the Delhi High Court.

 

Feature Image Credits: DNA India

Joyee Bhattacharya

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DUSU Elections 2017

National Green Tribunal issues notices to DU, DUSU and UGC over paper ban

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The National Green Tribunal is strongly set against the blatant use of paper in the DUSU elections in violation of its order abstaining the students’ body from using pamphlets and splattering the walls of the varsity campus with posters. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued contempt notices to Delhi University Students’ Union, Delhi University and University Grants Commission on the issue of wastage of paper during students’ union polls and sought responses. They were asked to appear on Wednesday. The tribunal in 2016 had asked the university and the student’s groups that participate in the elections to go paperless during the canvassing.
The directions came on a plea by Delhi University law student Nithin Chandran, who had approached NGT against indiscriminate wastage of paper during the students’ body elections. “On every election, tonnes of paper are wasted for canvassing by the candidates and their supporters. Wherein, there is no accountability for usage of paper and neither there is any norm or procedure for recycling of this waste paper,” the plea had said.
It had has also cited the Supreme Courts 2006 order directing universities to implement the recommendations of the JM Lyngdoh committee in their students’ union elections.

The NGT Act 2010 has provisions for a penalty under section 26 of the act in case of failure to comply with orders of the tribunal. Maximum punishment of three years imprisonment and Rs 10 crore as fine.

DUSU elections are scheduled to be held on 12th of September.

Image credits: DU Beat archives

Sandeep Samal

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DUSU Elections 2017

Lyngdoh Committee: The Recommendations Which Have Remained Mere Recommendations

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Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations are perhaps the most cited phrases in DUSU politics today. To understand its importance and relevance, it’s necessary to know that they were approved by the Supreme Court in 2006, to curb the use of muscle power and money in student politics. The aim was to reform the election system to make it more inclusive for students and involve fewer malpractices. Unfortunately, the guidelines have received brickbats from students and politicians alike, as many clauses are unrealistic and utopian.

Lyngdoh had aimed to keep political interference out from student elections but unfortunately failed to realise that this endeavour doesn’t exist without acknowledging the ‘political’ aspect of student political parties. To escape these restrictive guidelines, parties have identified loopholes, a few such examples being:
Clause 6.6.1: The maximum permitted expenditure per candidate shall be INR 5000.
Probably the most flouted clause in the recommendations, parties spend as much as lakhs to print countless pamphlets and hoardings that can be seen across the campus. The loophole that every party takes advantage of is that the guidelines restrict the candidate’s expenditure to INR 5000, but nothing has been mentioned for the candidate’s respective party. All major parties reiterate this reasoning to escape legal action.
Clause 6.7.5: No candidate shall be permitted to make use of printed posters, printed pamphlets, or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing. Candidates may only utilize hand-made posters for the purpose of canvassing, provided that such hand-made posters are procured within the expenditure limit set out herein above.
To cleverly counter this, parties have been releasing posters that misspell the name of its candidate but allow it to be distinguished back to the party as well. The use of an extra ‘A’ after the name would save it from any legal consequences.
Clause 6.7.9: During the election period the candidates may hold processions and/or public meetings, provided that they do not, in any manner, disturb classes and other academic and co curricular activities of the college/university. Further, such procession / public meeting may not be held without the prior written permission of the college/university authority.
It’s common knowledge that campaigners do disturb classes and disrupt routine workings in a college. It’s also never the candidate alone who partakes in this, more often the supporters do the loud sloganeering or get involved in brawls. Since the LCR specifies nothing for parties, political outfits do it as per their will, and candidates are absolved from all responsibility for its party’s action.
What could also be a major advantage for political parties is that the LCR are only applicable from the day the nominations are declared. Up until that day, parties can freely distribute pamphlets urging students to join their organisation.
Apart from one clause in the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines that calls for dissociation of student elections and political parties, there is no clause that directly links the entire party with the administration or puts it under the purview of the election officer’s power. This requires an urgent overview of the recommendations to make them more realistic to plug the loopholes and acknowledge the ‘politics’ in student elections.
Image Credits: Hindustan Times
Vijeata Balani
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DUSU Elections 2017

Throwback 2015: The rise and fall of CYSS, the student wing of AAP

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What was once termed as a force to reckon with, is now merely a shadow of its past. Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested in the 2015 Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections but did not win. CYSS was the star debutante in the 2015 elections and was perceived at the time a strong opposition to the hegemony established by NSUI and ABVP in previous DUSU elections.
Students who were disappointed with the political climate then considered CYSS as a strong third alternative to clean up the murky politics. Despite huge hoardings of Arvind Kejriwal greeting students and asking for votes, CYSS did not win any seat and scored 16% of the total vote share. Barring a candle-light march to protest against ABVP’s hooliganism in the Ramjas row, it has been relatively absent from the DU political scene in 2017.

While it’s a speculative ‘fact’ that parent party’s win directly correlates to the chances of its student wing winning; why did CYSS lose in 2015, when AAP government raked a record 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi legislative assembly elections? The agendas of CYSS are largely similar in ideology to AAP’s, which pertain to everyday issues of a student and plan to ensure a corruption-free university.

Anmol Panwar, the CYSS spokesperson and Vice-President, in conversation with DU Beat, said, “We boycotted elections last year because we don’t support the current muscle and money power politics in DUSU. Once DUSU candidates are declared, countless pamphlets are thrown in contravention to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations (LCR). University authorities are aware, complaints are filed, but no action is taken against the perpetrators. Because of this, independent candidates with great ideas lose out to the bigger parties. If the situation changes, we could contest this year too.”
Leading up to the 2015 elections, CYSS was involved in multiple controversies. In 2015, CYSS faced backlash for putting up ‘fake’ posters of opinion polls that it would win 45% of the total votes; the veracity of which could not be verified. Similarly, opposition parties alleged that more than 50 hoardings had been put up across the capital, which was in violation to LCR which states that candidates cannot spend more than INR 5000 in campaigning. In September the same year, a concert, ‘DU Rocks’ was organised which had celebrities like Jasleen Royal, Vishal Dadlani(AAP supporter) and Arvind Kejriwal himself addressing the gathering.

The LCR clearly calls for disassociation of student elections and student representation from political parties. These allegations, amid dwindling support and lack of trust for AAP government in Delhi back then moulded into a sticky situation for CYSS. There’s always a chance the party may make a comeback, the same depending on their ability to garner support through the LCR guidelines it accuses others of not following.

Image Credits: pumirror.in

 

Vijeata Balani

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Uncategorized

ABVP Organises Press Conference on the performance of outgoing DUSU Panel

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Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP), the student wing of RSS organised a press conference on 2nd September to discuss the work accomplished by ABVP-led DUSU last year. The panel consisted of Amit Tanwar, Priyanka Chhawri, and Ankit Singh Sangwan, the three outgoing DUSU office-bearers along with Monica Choudhary, ABVP’s National Secretary, Bharat Kumar, the State Secretary of ABVP and Saket Bahuguna, their National Media Convener.

During the conference, multiple achievements by ABVP in the past years were brought into notice and the rolling issue of discriminatory girls’ hostel rules was discussed. They further went on to talk about their role in a fight for printed mark sheets and hunger strikes held to promote students who had failed their last year of college. The outgoing Vice-President, Priyanka Chhawri spoke in length of the initiatives taken by DUSU in the past year, which included the DU paralympic sporting events and a university wide marathon being organised in North Campus along with cultural events and intellectual seminars under their hood.
Saket Bahuguna, ABVP’s National media convener touched upon subjects like DUSU’s controversial budget and the prevalence of violence across DU. Amid accusations, lies and slander, ABVP alleged opposition parties of putting forth “off-beat agendas to misdirect attention” and the university administration that had failed to competently handle the issue of permanent appointments in the staff. After a one-sided discourse on DUSU’s activities, questions were raised about ABVP’s involvement in the Ramjas issue and their stance on the thousands of posters defacing college walls throughout the campus. On this issue, Saket said, “It is practically impossible to cover all colleges that vote in DUSU in a span of 2 days. Even if we go by the cheapest means of transportation, we cannot cover all cost under 5000 rupees. Demands for a wall of democracy in every college has been placed in front of DU authorities, but no improvement has been observed.”
The conference concluded after the question-answer round and a hopeful parting note for DUSU elections 2017.
The party released its manifesto today.

Image credits: DU Beat archives

Vijeata Balani

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Aryabhatta College

Resolution to Affiliate with DUSU Fails in Aryabhatta College

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On 1st September 2017, a referendum titled “Should Aryabhatta College be affiliated to Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU)?” was held. The students of Aryabhatta College voted for the motion. Out of the 733 votes that were polled, 583 were for the motion, 140 against the motion, and 10 votes were regarded as invalid. The DUSU Constitution requires an absolute majority of the total number of students to support the motion for affiliation. As per clause 6(ii) of the DUSU Constitution, “Students of a College/Institution may become members of the Union by a resolution passed by absolute majority of the total number of students on rolls of the College/Institution concerned on the last working day of July of that year”. So even if most of the students voted in favour of being affiliated with DUSU, since a majority of the collective student body did not turn up for the polling, the resolution failed.

A strong reason for the less-than-ideal turnout could be because the 31st of August was a holiday in most colleges due to the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) elections. The vote was scheduled on the 1st of September, with 2nd September being a Saturday and the 3rd being a Sunday. If students skipped college on 1st, they would end up having a four-day weekend. Some students believe that the college authorities had intentionally scheduled the voting on a date that would result in a low turnout. Yashank Bhutani, a third-year B.Com student from Aryabhatta College, said, “I think that this was a perfect plan made by our college authorities to get rid of DUSU from our college. As per the referendum schedule, 31st was the DUTA elections, 1st was the day of referendum, and the following days were Saturday and Sunday. College authorities knew well that students won’t turn up on this day due to which we got the following results. The main incentive behind not allowing DUSU in our college is that the authorities will form a dictatorship where teachers would rule like in a school.”

Being associated with DUSU for a lot of colleges means being involved with student politics and activism at a greater level. While DUSU does not come without its own baggage, it is undeniable that it plays a highly relevant role in shaping college life for a lot of institutions. DUSU affiliation means access to a platform to air one’s grievances, access to better fests and cultural events, and a the prospect of engaging on a wide platform of student politics.

In response to the failed referendum, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is currently in power in DUSU, alleged that the referendum was illegal on the grounds that voting in DUSU elections had been happening in the college when it was Ram Lal Anand Evening College until a few years ago.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Edunuts

Kinjal Pandey
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Campus Central

Did you know: there exists a DUSU Constitution

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A constitution is ideally supposed to be a set of laws and principles laid down by those with authority, as the basis for governing a group of people. We know how important the Constitution is in a civilised society, especially with regards to the fact that previous week that saw the ruling on whether privacy is a fundamental right. Even though ground realities may take time to align with the lofty ideals written in a constitution, having high standards of ideals helps in aspiring for a more just world and providing legal recourse.

But what about an institution which is driven by ideas, like the University? Did you know that the Delhi University Students’ Union also has a constitution of its own? It’s a rhetorical question, because why would anybody know that? Unless, you’re writing an article about it – which is one of the more interesting ways of spending your weekend mass bunk due to the unthinking violent actions of the supporters of a certain amino acid-acronym Guru.

The Delhi University website has a link to the Constitution on it. Upon clicking on it, one is directed to a 16 page, 8 chapter PDF document. For those uninitiated in the ways of DUSU (which I’m sure is quite a lot of us given the recent years’ voter turnout), a lot of the clauses are new information. For instance, the source of DUSU funds is 20 rupees from each student who is a part of colleges affiliated to DUSU. It is apparently included in the college fees given by the students. Think of those sweet 20 rupees that you haggle over with rickshaw-wallahs for. The 20 rupees you can use for 2-3 cups of chai, depending on the generosity of your college canteen. A minute’s silence for those brave, invaluable (not literally) 20 rupees should be observed. So selfless, that they are someone else’s chai or someone else’s rickshaw fare to beat up the nearest leftist event’s organisers. It depends on you that which cause you’d rather have your money go to, if at all.

Under ‘Aims and Objects’ (not objectives, and I am not linguistically qualified enough to make a joke on that), there is the real substance – the meat of the Constitution. Among other things, “a democratic outlook”, “intellectual development” and “a sense of unity among students” is to be achieved, along with “harmonious relations” among the student community. That has definitely been achieved, no doubt. There is absolutely no irony in the Student Union demanding unity in a university where it doesn’t even serve a good number of colleges. Nope.

DUSU also has the power to organise events, debates, cultural and social service events under ‘Activities’. It can also publish magazines, journals and “wall newspapers”, whose existence had been unknown to me till now but as per Google Images it looks quite hipster, so I approve. There’s also some interesting organisational information: The Vice-Chancellor (currently Yogesh Tyagi, thank you Google) serves as the patron of DUSU, the hierarchy of the Council from top to bottom is President, Secretary, Vice President, and Joint Secretary; a student having been a part of the University for more than seven years cannot be an Executive Council member, and that a notice for an emergency meeting must be served by a telegram (Isn’t telegram dead yet?) Yes. “Why?” you ask? “Why not” is my response.

Regardless, it turns out that there are quite a few things to learn about DUSU and its functioning. We’re blessed enough to have an easily accessible Constitution that neatly mentions its aims, meetings’ procedures, structures and information on telegraph-usage. So go through it because it’s interesting, the 20 rupees trivia is definitely a great icebreaker for a date, and with the rains all around you have nowhere to go.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Rishika Singh
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DUSU Elections 2017

Students from RLA, Rajdhani stand against the litter caused because of DUSU elections

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With DUSU elections looming around the corner, students from various colleges of the University of Delhi have pledged to not vote for any party that partakes in the littering or vandalising of its college premises.
An unnamed notice at Ram Lal Anand College campus read, “We the voters of Ram Lal Anand College pledge to not vote for any candidate or a party whose supporters are found defacing or damaging the property of our college.” Similar notices from colleges like Kirori Mal College and Rajdhani College have begun doing the rounds in social media, and petitions which condemn wastage of paper are being signed. According to Vaibhav Bansal, a 3rd-year Political Science(H) student at Rajdhani College, “We are not planning on boycotting elections, we just demand a cleaner and violence-free campus. If a record of the campaigners could be maintained at the college gate and their number limited to 5, there won’t be as many problems. It’s our campus that is being defaced, not theirs.”
Akankshya Mohanty, a second-year Statistics(H) student at Ram Lal Anand College feels that the situation at her college is grim and severe. She said, “College just got renovated and many processes are underway as well. These campaigners are causing just too much destruction, with flyers and posters everywhere in and around the college.” She went on to describe her first-hand account of campaigners involved in a scuffle with the police at her college, and how quickly the fight turned violent.
A complete boycott is extremely far-fetched, but this new initiative to deter campaigners from defacing college property is gaining huge traction. Hopefully, more colleges will jump on the bandwagon and challenge authorities to take action against the wrongdoers.
Image Credits: RLA.in
Vijeata Balani
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DUB Speak

Past DUSU Presidents and where are they now?

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The Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections are one of the most important elections at the college level. Most of the DUSU presidents have gone ahead to make a significant mark in the field of national politics. Some examples of such leaders would be Arun Jaitley, Ajay Maken, Vijay Goel, Vijay Jolly, Alka Lamba etc. Thus being a DUSU president is one of the most lucrative posts that one can achieve at such an early stage of politics. Our country desperately needs the passion, vigour and zest of these young politicians.

With the approaching DUSU Elections, let’s have a look at what are the past DUSU presidents up to in their present lives.

  • Mohit Nagar

Mohit Nagar was the President of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) in the year 2014-15. He belongs to Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).  He did his B.Com and M.com from Shyam Lal Anand College, University of Delhi. Currently, he is pursuing L.L.B from Law Faculty, University of Delhi and is in his first year and plans to practice law in future. He is also the Organising Secretary at Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad at present (ABVP).

  • Satendar Awana

Satender Awana was the president of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) in the year 2015-16. He belongs to Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He is currently the head of the Delhi University unit of ABVP and intends to pursue law as a career in future.

  • Ajay Chhikara 

He was the DUSU President for the year 2011-12. His tenure ended in September 2012 and by December 2012 he was appointed as the National Secretary, NSUI. He was also the made the Chandigarh Incharge, where NSUI won the Punjab University elections for the first time. He also worked in Amethi on Rahul Gandhi’s campaign during the Lok Sabha elections. He was later promoted to National General Secretary, NSUI. He was also made Punjab In charge during assembly elections where NSUI had a successful hold. He completed his law degree in 2012 and now actively pursues law along with politics. He also worked with the assistant Advocate General in the Supreme Court. His life is thriving both in personal and professional terms and he regards his one-year-old daughter Aavya as his lucky charm.

  • Arun Hooda 

He had an unconventional start as compared to most other DUSU Presidents. He pursued engineering and worked as an engineer for a while. Then he cleared SSC and worked for the Indian Air Force for a while. After withdrawing from the Air Force he joined the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Law.  He was the DUSU President from 2012-13.  He is the Observer Incharge of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. He has politically been active in Haryana and was one of the finalist’s for the post of NSUI National President. He practices in the Tees Hazari Court and Delhi High court as a lawyer. Along with an engineering degree, he has an LLB degree along with another in Forensics. He is also pursuing LLM from the faculty of law.

  • Nupur Sharma 

She was the DUSU President from 2008-09. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Hons.) from Hindu College. When she won the DUSU election representing ABVP, many were shocked. Until her victory, DUSU was a NSUI stronghold. In fact, the remaining three posts in her union were won by NSUI. She went on to pursue a master’s in economics from the London School of Economics. She is an official spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party and contested the 2015 Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi constituency against Arvind Kejriwal.

 

Image Credits -The Indian Express

Anukriti Mishra

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Kinjal Pandey

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Bazinga

BAZINGA: Student political parties can now distribute educational freebies

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Following the Vice Chancellor’s historical decision, you can now expect student political parties to hand you out pens and notebooks in exchange of your vote.

In a press conference last week, the University of Delhi’s Vice Chancellor passed an order to student political parties that allows them distribute freebies legally on only one day, preceding the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections. This decision comes right before the polls that are set to be conducted on the 12th of September this year. When the VC, Satish Saraf, was approached to reason this historical decision, he said, “The DUSU elections happen in an arbitrary manner, as no political party follows the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines anyway. Through this reform, we plan to introduce transparency in the system.” This report, however, is incomplete without the numerous terms and conditions it clearly states that need to be followed as protocol to distribute freebies legally. A few of these conditions are:

  1. Political parties can only distribute freebies on only one day, that day being at least one week prior to elections.
  2. Political parties can distribute only education related freebies like pens, registers, books and other similar items that add to the welfare of students.
  3. If the political party is found to be distributing alcohol or weed, its candidate would be prosecuted and disqualified to contest with immediate effect.
  4. No printed posters can be put up. This is in accordance with orders given by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to conduct a poster-less and digital campaign.
  5. A maximum cap of 10 lakhs would be set so that parties with lesser funds have no complaints.
  6. To help students make an informed decision, all those parties that partake in distribution of freebies are expected to arrange for seminars and workshops, wherein they explain in detail the functioning of DUSU and delineate the actions they will take to achieve all points in their manifestos.

Two schools of thoughts have emerged from this landmark decision- one which strongly opposes this decision and one which stands in staunch support for it. A second year student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College under condition of anonymity, said, “I think the DU VC has gone berserk. His decision places small, genuine parties to a major disadvantage and ensures that parties with large funding get abundant visibility.” However, not everybody harbours the same viewpoint. Avni Bansal, President of Sangharsh Yuva Parishad is of the view that this decision will transform elections for the better. In conversation with DU Beat, she said, “Everybody knows that use of muscle power cannot be removed from elections. But, this can definitely be put to good use for the welfare of students. Students belonging to lower economic backgrounds can benefit immensely from this opportunity”

While we already have protests from opposition parties against this decision, the executive council has been tabled to discuss reforms in DUSU budget as well. Most students consider this to be another spurious decision by the VC and have signed petitions that would be forwarded to the administration. Whether it will face a roll back like other significant reforms or undergo rigorous implementation, only time will tell.

 

Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly column of believable fake news. It is to be enjoyed, and not believed.

 

Image Credits: Days Of The Year

Vijeata Balani

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