DUSU Polls Return to Old Battle Lines

Synopsis

It's hard to keep campus politics within campus. The proceedings of the election of the Delhi University Students' Union for 2025 were not different from the past when national party leaders were seen, hundreds of security personnel deployed, and fresh allegations of "dirty" and "tainted" elections as a result of alleged irregularities were raised.

A Comeback, Reversed

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student arm linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, secured three out of four seats in the central panels with the president, secretary and joint secretary roles and Congress-backed National Students' Union of India holding the vice-presidential post in results announced on 19th September 2025.

ABVP's Aryan Maan secured a narrow victory over NSUI's Joslyn Nandita Choudhary by over 16,000 votes in the presidential election and NSUI's Rahul Jhansla won the vice-presidential poll against Aryan Maan of ABVP by 1,500 votes.

It was the first time in seven years when NSUI had won the presidential election after losing the office previously, that its victory was reversed as candidate Rounak Khatri lost to his ABVP rival by just over 1,300 votes.

Participation and the equipment used in the Contest

The voter turnout increased from 35.2 per cent last year to 39.36 per cent, with 60,272 learners voting. More than 600 police personnel were deployed, including 160 who were equipped with body-worn cameras, and also deployed drones and CCTV cameras, measures that have been used in the past to tackle physical confrontations on campus during the elections.

The vote was described by the officials as strictly following the Lyngdoh Committee’s guidelines against defacement, to help reduce the poster and graffiti campaigning that has long been a feature of DUSU votes.

Contested Claims From Both Sides

There were claims of interference by both parties. NSUI alleged that the university administration along with Delhi government and police were conspiring against it while national president Varun Choudhary claimed that "ABVP goons" were terrorising students on campus.

In turn, ABVP faulted the supporters of incumbent NSUI President Rounak Khatri for injuring a student outside Kirori Mal College. NSUI separately claimed that on electronic voting machines, there were blue ink marks made next to the names of ABVP candidates, which the university administration allegedly admitted without responding in available records.

A National Reading of a Campus Result

The outcome provoked criticism not just in Delhi. Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the results as a "reflection of the unwavering faith of the youth in the ‘Nation First’ ideology", playing a student union election up as a reflection of the wider political sentiment, regardless of the outcome — a framing that has become commonplace in reading the outcomes of DUSU elections across the country.