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The Aftermath of Elections- Is there Room for Improvement?

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Another edition of Delhi University Students’ Union(DUSU) elections gone by, another year’s campaigning done and dusted. What lies ahead is the vast aftermath of elections and the countless reforms the process is yet to witness.

DUSU elections are continuously undergoing some change. From the implementation of EVMs(Electronic Voter Machines) that replaced ballot boxes to the NOTA(None of The Above) option that was introduced last year, many issues have been rectified by the responsible authorities.

However, a slight cause of worry is the fact that out of the total votes for all four posts, NOTA votes increased by a staggering 60%, from 17,722 last year to 29,770 this year. The use of this option should be lauded, but to prevent NOTA votes from increasing next year too, we can improve and learn from foreign universities’ student body elections and draw parallels that stand relevant in the Indian scenario.

  1. Referendums can be held to solidify the constitution that governs DUSU elections.This procedure, complicated to understand but easier in practice, requires contesting suits to get signatures to put forward a question for a referendum on the ballot. If a threshold of signatories is reached, the referendum is conducted to make elections more student inclusive. If the question gets the support of 2/3rd of the voters with at least 10% voting in favour, the proposed amendment is passed and cannot be repealed by any authority. This gives voters the significant power to exercise their rights and influence legislation governing them. This model is actively followed at Harvard University.
  2. Unlike the case in India, in most University Government Bodies(UGB) in the U.S, candidates are not affiliated with any political party, either the Democrats or Republicans. There are, however, separate clubs and organisations that harbour their ideologies, regardless of which they still have no direct link with the parties. It is unlikely that the same model will ever be followed in the Indian scenario, but it provides an insightful snippet of thought for future elections.
  3. University officials are striving to make elections relevant to the digital age but still follow outdated mediums to do the same. Since Delhi University is an open university with colleges spread far and wide, for a candidate to reach out to the maximum number of students in limited time is an impossibility. Conducting university-wide debates in henceforth not possible, and not every college has the required infrastructure to accommodate all the students of its institution for the same. Candidates in foreign universities come up with websites meant specifically for their election campaigns. Following a similar digital route, candidates for DUSU elections can conduct live sessions, use chat boxes for live question-answer rounds and spread manifesto circulars on open social media platforms.

As much as political parties are despised during the time leading up to elections, many have pitched in reforms that could potentially bring revolutionary changes. The number of EVMs can be increased and mock runs of EVMs can be conducted, as the controversy of tampering always arises after elections are through. Audits could be conducted of the DUSU expenditure and the same published on a public portal to help interested students review the functioning of the outgoing DUSU panel. (Credits: NSUI and ABVP)

A plethora of similar suggestions have been pitched already, but very few implemented to keep up with the time. Most of the time there are administrative delays and faults that hinder path-breaking changes in the student electoral process. A certain degree of autonomy and accountability could go hand-in-hand to help voters and candidates exercise this opportunity and uphold the spirit of democracy.

Image Credits: My Republica

 

Vijeata Balani

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Bazinga

Faulty Voting Machines in Few Colleges: Biased Results?

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The entire University of Delhi is heaving a sigh of relief after the DUSU elections 2017. But now, what about the faulty voting machines?

Elections in colleges and universities are valued by every student.  The candidates for the various posts have to argue for the need of more advanced and automated voting systems. However, the design, construction, implementation, effectiveness, and security of electronic voting systems have proved to be problematic. The results of the DUSU polls were released last Wednesday. The outflow of freebies, goodies and movie tickets came to a fruitful end. But insiders have revealed that the voting machines were faulty in a few colleges. So, do we assume that the results were biased? First came the suspicions of vote flipping. And now, the stories and conspiracy theories have begun.

Sources have informed us that there have been reports of voters pressing one candidate’s name, only to have the opponent’s name light up instead. It is unnerving for the students. Have our votes got no value? After all the tohubohu in the university in the former half of the year, now we get to hear of alleged ‘rigging’ of machines. The colleges which got the faulty machines are demanding for another round of elections due to tampering of the ballot boxes. There is a popular demand to scrap the machines. The Chancellor has requested for a probe to look into this matter and the role of the officers involved in the entire process. It said that the machines were tested before the elections and recalibrated each day before voting began.

But the upheaval of students regarding justice in this issue has lead to a settlement: Now the winning party will be decided by a popular support rally, which is to be scheduled by the end of this month in DU’s North Campus. The working mechanism of this rally is described as follows: you have to register yourself under a party as their supporter, and then you must to join their rally walk from the prescribed time. The party with the highest number of supporters wins.

Statistics say more students came out to vote in DU this year as compared to last year.  In 32 of the 41-morning colleges, the voter turnout stood at 44% — a sizeable jump, when the overall voter turnout last year was 36.9%. But in a university like ours, we expect a higher number of voters. And if you could not vote this year, now you have another chance to have a say in the elections of your very own university. Also, increasing support implies another round of incentives to enjoy! Goodies are on their way, let’s join a rally.

**Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is a humorous, light hearted column that should only be appreciated and not accepted.

Feature Image Credits: Times of India 

 

Radhika Boruah

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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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Campus Central

Rusticate students those who use printed posters: NGT

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The National Green Tribune (NGT) has issued a warning to the University of Delhi (DU) in particular regarding non-compliance with the tribunal.

The National Green Tribune (NGT), having failed to make a mark with words, resorted to action on Wednesday issuing a warning to the University of Delhi (DU), the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) regarding the wastage of paper during the polls this year.

A plea was filed by Nithin Chandran, a third year law student in DU when he was flabbergasted by the modus operandi of campaigning through the humongous wastage of paper. The plea read-“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 re-cycling of this waste paper”. Relying upon the report published by the TIMES OF INDIA, the NGT was informed of the non-compliance of its order on Tuesday by the counsels of the law student- Piyush Singh and Aditya Parolia. The bench consisted of the NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar and B S Sajwan.

The conduct of the elections is based on the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee to be implemented from the year 2006 by the order of the Supreme Court which stated- “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 at certain places in the campus, which shall be notified in advance by the election commission/university authority”.

The NGT has thereby, issued a warning to the DU students of rusticating if caught in action. Under section 26 of the NGT Act 2010, the maximum punishment if found guilty of contempt of the orders, is three years’ of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 crores.

Apart from just the art work on the walls as well as the premises of the campus; it becomes imperative to note that the littered papers are not disposed of properly or re-cycled, hence, leaving an imprint of the elections held every year. On the contrary, the Lyngdoh Committee states- “All the candidates shall be jointly responsible for ensuring the cleaning up of the polling area within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling”.

According to reports, while the next hearing is scheduled for the 18th of this month; the DUSU polls are ahead on the 12th. With all of this happening; we have to watch out for the big day and the probable last minute changes that the manifestos of the several parties might suffer.

Shrija Ganguly

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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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News

Rajib Ray of DTF Elected as New DUTA President

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On Thursday, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) conducted its elections for the post of President and fifteen Executive Committee members. Rajib Ray, a professor of Philosophy from Kirori Mal College and the leftist Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), was named the President of DUTA on Friday morning by scoring 2636 votes.

The elections were held in Arts Faculty, North Campus. Teachers from colleges across Delhi came to cast their votes from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. This year, the voter turnout was massive as it amassed to an estimate of 7,200 members.

Rajib Ray told The Hindu, “We are looking forward to fighting against the failures of the government and other authorities. Timely disbursement of pension and setting up of a review committee are our top priorities.”

In his manifesto, Ray questioned the prevalent education policies and raised important issues such as those of privatisation and autonomy of DU colleges. He said “Education policy is currently being dictated by the NITI Aayog, whose CEO recently proclaimed that the government should “hand over schools, colleges, jails to the private sector”. Its Draft Action Plan is being pushed through various UGC Regulations. The Draft on Graded Autonomy defines three categories of universities based on NAAC scores and NIRF rank.” He even criticised the DU administration by saying that “The DU administration has been deaf to the denial of promotion to thousands of teachers and forced them to go to the Court. It has surrendered to the Ministry of Human Resources Development directive to appeal against the positive Court order on pensions.”

His main motto is to defend public education. With such a win, a lot is expected from his tenure as the new President of DUTA.

 

Feature Image Credits: Democratic Teachers’ Front

Bhavya Banerjee
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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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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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