Defeated NSUI candidates pin loss on scams, Anna's stir

Defeated candidates of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), ascribed their loss in the elections for the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) to the string of scams and a massive anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare.

Defeated candidates of Congress's student wing, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), ascribed their loss in the elections for the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) to the string of scams and a massive anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare.

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The NSUI lost the posts of vice president, secretary and joint secretary to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student outfit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in the election held here on Friday.

"I think the issue of corruption and scams has worked against us and the results are a proof of it. I am saddened by the loss," NSUI's Bhupendra Chaudhary, who was contesting for the vice-president's post told IANS.

Chaudhary lost to ABVP's Vikas Choudhary by a margin of 3,780 votes.

"The corruption charges and the Anna Hazare agitation definitely had a negative impact on us," added Chaudhary.

However, NSUI's lone winning candidate Ajay Chhikara who is DUSU's new president disagreed with his comrade and insisted that corruption and Hazare were non-issues.

"If corruption and Anna Hazare were important then I would have lost too," Chhikara told IANS.

Asked about the reason for the defeat of NSUI's other candidates, Chhikara said: "We'll have to examine the reasons behind our defeat. Obviously something went wrong."

Meanwhile, the ABVP was quick to crow over their victory.

"This was bound to happen. The common man is not ignorant. The NSUI's and Congress's corrupt ways of working are there for everyone to see," ABVP's Vikas Yadav, the DUSU's secretary-elect, told IANS.

"Both these factors (scams and the Hazare agitation) have played a major role in this year's election," he added.