The Ramjas student union elections finally took place on the 17th of last month. We caught up with the new president, Mr. Yogit Rathi to ask a few questions on his big win. A third year student from the history department, Mr. Rathi had won by a landslide victory with a margin of 104 votes with his biggest competitor Anuj Damara landing 421 votes. The rest of the candidates who came third, fourth and fifth were Kapil Choudhary, Mohamed Alam Tyagi and Rishabh Bajpai respectively.
Student elections at Ramjas were scheduled to be held in September but were suspended in the wake of a fight which broke out between two presidential candidates. The Faculty had unanimously decided on suspending the elections till the issue was sorted out. After much consultation and many meetings with the DSW, DUSU office and the Principal, a decision was taken to keep the election date on the 17th of October, 2016.
Following is the interview with Mr. Rathi, as taken right after the results.
Arindam: What made you fight for the college elections this year?
Yogit: Unfortunately I had enrolled in an engineering college right after 12th but since all my friends were in DU and the political atmosphere kind of lured me in so I changed my mind and came here instead. Once here, I actively took part in union politics since my first year. I had made a lot of friends and associates in that time. So when somebody suggested that I should try for the president, I did not hesitate as I believed it would be a good idea and since it was the centennial year, this was my chance to work for the college.
Arindam: Were there any difficulties in winning this year? What was your strategy for this year’s elections?
Yogit: There were a lot of major obstacles and the competition was a tough one, no doubt. The college was facing multiple issues such as the absence of college fests, management problems and other issues faced by the blind students in the library. Another hurdle was when, on the day of scrutiny in early September, a fight broke out between two candidates (names withheld) which led to the elections being suspended for some time. After repeated pleas on our part, the Principal finally agreed to conduct the elections in October.
Arindam: Have you participated in politics before? Also, are you working for any social cause or in college events?
Yogit: I have actively participated in my departmental activities and also worked for college events over the years. I had also tried for the centennial team but unfortunately was not selected.
Arindam: In your manifesto, you have mentioned ‘Technologically advanced tuck shops..to help students meet their basic necessities’. What kind of facilities are you talking about? Can you elaborate on this?
Yogit: If you look around you will notice that our college, in spite of having a photocopy shop, does not have a stationery one, which many colleges have and is a necessity. For various reasons the students have to take printouts, browse the internet and have a basic need of stationery items. The purpose of a ‘Tuck’ shop is to provide all these facilities within campus grounds.
Arindam: Another interesting thing you have mentioned in your agenda is setting up an ‘Analyst Programme’ and ‘introducing a new software’. Can you explain further?
Yogit: This was an idea that came up amidst all the centennial fervor. The idea was, to create a link between the Ramjas college library and the university library which would be further connected to all the central universities in the country. I realise it is a big dream to have and would need lot of work but it is not impossible. The principal has promised to consider this proposition once the centennial celebrations are over.
Arindam: That is a big project. Good luck with that! Now for my last question. You have made a lot of promises and it seems with the centennial celebrations and faculty and staff working around the clock, you might fall short of adequate resources or time, to deliver on your word. How, if this comes to be, are you planning to tackle this?
Yogit: The centennial team has a lot of students to handle with organising the celebrations but I believe for our goals to be reached we have all the resources we need. It would take time but I plan to involve all the class representatives (CRs) from ach department, to make it a more unified effort. If each department chips in, fulfilling all the agendas will be no hard task!
Image credits: Mr. Yogit Rathi
Arindam Goswami
arindamg@dubeat.com
Lady Shri Ram College is one of the first colleges in DU to hold its college elections, and this year, the elections began in a hurry as the date for the college day was declared late. The department elections began on Monday, 1st April with the candidates submitting their nomination forms. Elections for some departments were held on 2nd; whereas other departments had their election on 3rd. Strict rules for elections were laid down. According to the rules, any candidate found campaigning through internet or SMS would be immediately disqualified from the elections.
On the 2nd History Department held their elections, whereas other departments like Political Science, Statistics, Philosophy, Economics, etc. held their elections the next day. All candidates needed a third year and a second year to nominate them, and one could see frantic first years running around asking seniors to nominate them and read their agenda. According to a first year candidate running for the post of Department Treasurer, ‘contesting the elections has been a whole new experience for me altogether. I have learnt through my research about so many problems that the students are facing, especially when it comes to accounts, and I hope I can create a more transparent accounts system for my department in case I get elected.’
The following candidates were declared Presidents of their respective department Unions:
Amanjit Kaur: Sociology
Vaishnavi Singh: History
Srujana Yadav: Political Science
Prerna Kannan: Statistics
Charvi Kain: Economics
Gurman Bhatia: Journalism
Image: Sapna Mathur (sapna@dubeat.com)
]]> 
Saturday, September 15, 2012 Congress’ student wing NSUI swept the Delhi University Students Union polls, winning all three top posts of president, vice president and secretary. NSUI’s Arun Hooda defeated, a margin of 5,465 votes. As against Arun who got 17,621 votes Choudhry secured just 12,156 votes.
alleged rigging in the elections and staged protest at the Delhi Universitycampus, to control which the police had to resort to lathi charge. Since the morning, the area near the University Plaza and Dean Student welfare where the counting was taking place was cordoned off by the police and nobody, not even the media was allowed in.