Delhi University Votes for Student Union Under Heavy Security and Judicial Scrutiny

The Delhi University Students Union elections were conducted on 18 September amidst a big police and paramilitary presence and during campaigning period which saw incidents that made their way to the Delhi High Court. According to the Court, a victory procession shall not be taken out after counting on 19 September, and it is proposing to award collective damages in cases of violations of norms. Rivalry between ABVP, NSUI and AISA-SFI erupted over student housing issues as a building collapsed recently in Satya Niketan. Counting will be due on Saturday.

Students of the University of Delhi on Friday voted and elected the next president of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) in a poll, cordoned off by a heavy police presence and under the watch of the Delhi High Court.

Voting took place in two shifts, from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. The university deployed 1,000 electronic voting machines, 960 of which were used and 40 on standby, officials said.

A monitoring campus

Delhi Police has split North Campus into five zones and 23 sectors and set up pickets and barricades at the gates of colleges and key checkpoints. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatt said that about 1,500 police personnel were deployed.

Other estimates differ: IANS quoted a figure of over 600 police and paramilitary personnel at both the North and South campuses, while a report from a PTI source quoted the figure as being over 2,000.

Media reports quoted the number of electors to be over 2.75 lakh students for the four central posts, while other reports had put the number at 1.51 lakh students eligible for the four posts. The security measures are in effect at all the campuses of the Delhi University in view of the upcoming elections in the university.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajendra Prasad Meena in Shahdara district said they would be using drones, CCTV and on-site photographers and police was "fully prepared to prevent any altercations".

Chief Election Officer Raj Kishore Sharma said that there are 12 control rooms which will be operational and technical experts will be there if anything goes wrong. Police would move the machines after polling to the Multipurpose Hall of the University Sports Stadium for the count on Saturday.

The security deployment was related to violence and allegations of bribing voters with the use of election codes during the campaign. The High Court called for inputs from the university, Delhi Police and government on Thursday.

A Bench led by Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia on Friday ordered that there should be no victory procession after the results on the roads, or within campuses and hostels. It has directed the Delhi Police to take action against such violations and added that the violations could lead to criminal, administrative action and contempt action by the court.

Two days after the student body of Delhi University (DU) opted to boycott the body's upcoming elections, a vote is being held in the university on Friday.

The Delhi High Court headed by Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya has proposed to impose collective damages.

The Bench also sought clarifications from the student organisations/candidates as to why damages ought not to be imposed for the alleged violations of the norms of the Lyngdoh Committee. Police told the court that there were FIRs filed and a few students arrested.

The hearing had been called for on a request by advocate Prashant Manchanda who had stated that some people on Wednesday took over part of North Campus and the teachers and students were assaulted.

The claims appeared before the court and were not substantiated independently in the trial. Working groups of the NSUI and the ABVP have been allowed to participate in the protests earlier this week, which the High Court has refused to bar.

Who is contesting

There are seven candidates for president, five candidates for vice-president and four candidates each for secretary and joint-secretary. The ABVP has nominated Yash Dabas as its president while the NSUI has nominated Vijay Shankar Meena and the AISA-SFI alliance Ananya Raturi. The outgoing panel consisted of three members of ABVP and one from NSUI.

Housing & safety on the ballot

The student accommodation was the campaign running through student accommodation. The collapse of a five-storey PG building in Satya Niketan earlier this month that resulted in the death of seven people had been followed by a protest by the Gen Z at Jantar Mantar in July against alleged cheating in exams.

A student of Aryabhatta College told The Statesman that, during the collapse, he had noted who was there and had helped students. Outgoing DUSU president, Aryan Maan of the ABVP, had announced a 4-0 victory for the organisation. Over 2000 security personnel deployed across Delhi University and the voting process for DUSU Elections 2026 has started.

The number of those who turn out and the numbers

The turnout in the first phase was about 36 per cent, compared to about 39.45 per cent last year, officials said. The university has banned all types of vehicles on Chhatra Marg, Probyn Road and University Road till results are declared.