DU officials inspect colleges on removal of DUSU poll defacements

Raj Kishore Sharma, the chief returning officer, said that the VC will visit more colleges on Sunday

Delhi University officials comprising the vice chancellor (VC) and the chief returning officer visited several colleges in the South Campus on the third day of a four-day drive on Saturday to inspect how much of the defacement on public properties across the university has been removed.

Public property defaced during DUSU elections at North Campus. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The inspections occurred after the Delhi high court on October 21 asked for fresh status reports from the university regarding the damage of public property during the DU students’ union (DUSU) elections in September.

Raj Kishore Sharma, the chief returning officer, said that the VC will visit more colleges on Sunday, when the drive ends, to ensure everything is satisfactory as the university has to appear before the court on Monday.

The officials also inspected several colleges on October 24 and 25. According to the chief election officer, Satyapal Singh, more than 90% of the property defaced during the DUSU elections has been cleaned.

VC Yogesh Singh and chief returning officer Raj Kishore Sharma visited several colleges including Motilal Nehru College, Ram Lal Anand College, Aryabhatta College, Hindu College, Kirori Mal College, Ramjas College, Hansraj College, Satyawati College, SGTB Khalsa College, Hansraj College, and Laxmi Bai College.

The DUSU election took place on September 27 but the vote counting scheduled for September 28 was halted by the high court due to defacement of public property. The university and the students involved were directed by the court to clean the area, following which counting would be allowed by the court. The court also directed the university to assess the loss of revenue to affected parties such as the civic body and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and compensate them for the losses.