With ABVP and NSUI largely dominating the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections on Saturday, an independent candidate seems to have made huge strides, leading with a massive margin in the Vice President race.
At the time of writing this report, Shokeen is leading on the VP post by over 800 votes, taking a commanding lead over ABVP's Ishu Maurya and NSUI's Vir Chatrath. Follow live updates on the DUSU election results here.
This is the only post where an Independent is leading, with others - President, Secretary and Joint Secretary, seeing a close contest between the ABVP and the NSUI.
Who is Deepanshu Shokeen?
Shokeen, who has taken a surprise lead in the DUSU polls this time, is a student of the Department of Buddhist Studies, much like many other candidates in the fray this time.
According to an NDTV Hindi report, Shokeen hails from Peeragarhi, his father a bus conductor and his mother an Anganwadi worker.
A graduate from the Bhagat Singh College, Deepanshu always had his mind set on entering student politics, even though his father wished for him to pursue UPSC.
{{/usCountry}}A graduate from the Bhagat Singh College, Deepanshu always had his mind set on entering student politics, even though his father wished for him to pursue UPSC.
{{/usCountry}}He also took a tough stand against the PG collapse in Satya Niketan and vowed to not wear his slippers until justice was served, the report added.
While the counting of votes is still underway, Deepanshu has already claimed victory as the new Vice President of DUSU. “it’s done Bro 💪Thank you DU 🙏 Independent Vice President,” he posted on X.
He also thanked students of Delhi University and vowed to stand by their trust in him.
NSUI association and fallout
According to several reports, Deepanshu Shokeen had sought candidature from the NSUI, one of the student bodies he is now fighting against in the DUSU Vice President elections.
According to NDTV Hindi, Shokeen had even filed his nomination, but was asked to withdraw by the NSUI. The student leader refused to do so and instead entered the poll fray as an Independent.
Also Read: Yash Dabas vs Vijay Meena vs Ananya Raturi: Meet the faces of DUSU presidency race
Deepanshu is among the five Vice President candidates in the DUSU elections, others being Aranya Singh Rathore, Ishu Maurya, Vir Chatrath and Akshat Shikhar.