Polling day: Delhi University marks lively return to politics

Many students were first-time voters this time but officials were unable to provide the total voter turnout at the time of filing this copy

After the pandemic-induced hiatus of three years, Delhi University classrooms turned into polling booths for the much-awaited Delhi University Students’ Union elections as well as college-specific students’ union polls on Friday across 52 colleges and departments. DUSU elections were last held in 2019.

Students at Miranda House wait to cast their vote on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Many of the students were first-time voters, and chief election officer Chandra Shekhar said that the voter turnout was around 42%.

Authorities said polling was conducted peacefully with no incidents being reported. The Delhi Police had barricaded all roads around Chhatra Marg in North Campus on Friday.

A total of 500 Delhi Police personnel and nearly as many paramilitary personnel were deployed at the 52 polling stations. Students began lining up outside colleges at 8.30am and by noon, the lines became longer and the wait time was 20 minutes.

The polls closed at 1.30pm for morning colleges and 7pm for evening colleges.

According to university officials, once the campaigning ended on Thursday, around 600 electronic voting machines (EVM) were distributed to colleges.

“Everything was peaceful and there were no complaints reported. We will begin counting the votes at 8am on Saturday and results will be announced as soon as the counting is complete,” DU proctor Rajni Abbi said. Some colleges announced results for their internal students’ unions by Friday evening.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said that the party swept the polls at Vivekanand College and won a few posts in Laxmibai College, Dayal Singh Evening College, Swami Shraddhanand College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Aditi Mahavidyalaya

Meanwhile, the National Students’ Union of India said they won posts in Motilal Nehru College, Deshbandhu College, Ramjas College, Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, Zakir Hussain College, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College.

Hindu College principal Anju Srivastava said, “We saw a voter turnout of around 53%. There was very strict patrolling by the police and there were no glitches.”

Referring to the separate manifestos released for women by ABVP and NSUI, a second-year student at Miranda House, who did not wish to be named, said though she voted, she was not satisfied with the options.

“Every party mentions sanitary napkins and women’s safety. Then they throw pamphlets on our faces when we ask them to save paper,” she said.