NSUI pulls one from ABVP

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the BJP’s students’ wing — cashed in on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement to make a near sweep in the Delhi University Students Union elections on Friday.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the BJP’s students’ wing — cashed in on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement to make a near sweep in the Delhi University Students Union elections on Friday.

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The ABVP bagged three of the four seats but lost the prestigious post of president to the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) — for the first time in four years.

NSUI’s Ajay Chhikara, a final-year law student, polled 11,164 votes to defeat ABVP’s Neha Singh by a margin of more than 2,300 votes.

The ABVP, which won the posts of vice-president, secretary and joint secretary, has never lost the president’s post since 2008.

The ABVP, which had made graft and its support to the Anna Hazare campaign one of its main issues, was quick to declare the verdict as a mandate against corruption and the state and central governments.

“The youths’ mood was anti-corruption and anti-Congress,” Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta said. Only a little over 35% of the votes were registered in the high-stakes poll because of heavy rains that lashed the capital on Friday.