The RSS-backed ABVP on Friday won the Delhi University Students' Union election (DUSU election), bagging three of the four posts that were up for contest and wresting the president post from the NSUI. Aryan Maan of the ABVP defeated his nearest rival, NSUI's Joslyn Nandita Choudhary, by a huge margin to clinch the DUSU president post.
Counting of votes for the Delhi University Students' Union election (DUSU election) began on Friday morning, a day after students across DU colleges affiliated with the DUSU cast their votes amid heavy security for the poll in which ABVP and NSUI were the main contenders. Follow DUSU election live updates
Aryan Maan of the ABVP will succeed NSUI leader Ronak Khatri as DUSU president.
DUSU election results | What we know
-Winning candidates: After all rounds of counting, ABVP's Aryan Maan emerged victorious for the president post of DUSU, defeating his nearest rival – NSUI's Joslyn Nandita Choudhary. For the NSUI, Rahul Jhansla was the sole winner, bagging the vice president post.
ABVP
President: Aryan Maan – 28,841 votes (won)
{{/usCountry}}President: Aryan Maan – 28,841 votes (won)
{{/usCountry}}Vice president: Govind Tanwar – 20,547 votes (lost)
Secretary: Kunal Chaudhary – 23,779 votes (won)
Joint secretary: Deepika Jha – 21,825 votes (won)
NSUI
President: Joslyn Nandita Choudhary – 12,645 votes (lost)
Vice president: Rahul Jhansla – 29,339 votes (won)
Secretary: Kabir Girsa – 16,117 votes (lost)
Joint secretary: Lavkush Badhana – 17,380 votes (lost)
Who were the ABVP candidates: The DUSU election contest was for four positions -- president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary. As mentioned above, the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) fielded Aryan Maan for the post of president, Govind Tanwar for vice president, Kunal Choudhary for secretary and Deepika Jha for the joint secretary post.
Who were the NSUI candidates: The Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) fielded Joslyn Nandita Choudhary for the post of president, Rahul Jhansla Yadav for vice president, Kabir Girsa for secretary and Lavkush Bhadana for the joint secretary post.
Who is Arya Maan: ABVP's presidential candidate Aryan Maan hails from Haryana's Bahadurgarh. Subsidised metro passes, free Wi-Fi across campus, accessibility audits for persons with disabilities, and better sports facilities are among his poll promises.
Who is Joslyn Nandita Choudhary: NSUI's candidate for DUSU president post, Joslyn Nandita Choudhary is a postgraduate student of Buddhist Studies. She focused her DUSU poll campaign on hostel shortage, campus safety and the demand for menstrual leave.
SFI-AISA: The SFI-AISA combine nominated Anjali, a student of Indraprastha College for Women, for the post of president. While it was a triangular contest, the main contenders were ABVP and the NSUI. Anjali campaigned on issues of gender sensitisation, fee hikes and the restoration of grievance redressal mechanisms. The SFI-AISA was trailing on all posts.
2024 DUSU election results: The 2024 DUSU poll saw the NSUI ending its seven-year losing streak by winning the president and joint secretary posts, while the ABVP bagged the vice-president's office and retained the secretary position. Over the past decade, the ABVP has dominated the presidential election, winning six times, while the NSUI has bagged the post twice.
What makes DUSU election an key student contest: The DUSU elections remain a high-profile student contest, often seen as a mirror of national political trends, with several top politicians of prominent political parties tracing back their entry to politics from here. The DUSU was established in 1949, with its first elections held in 1954. Late Arun Jaitley, Ajay Maken, Alka Lamba and Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta are among some of the many leaders who were once part of DUSU and went on to hold key positions in Indian politics.