DUSU polls: NSUI bags post of prez after 7 yrs, ABVP gets vice-president

After a seven-year drought, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has reclaimed the top spot in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections, securing the posts of president and joint secretary as results, delayed by nearly two months, were announced Monday.

This marks a significant comeback for the NSUI, which last won the presidency in 2017. No elections were held from 2020 to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

NSUI’s Ronak Khatri emerged victorious as the new DUSU president, garnering 20,207 votes and defeating ABVP’s Rishabh Choudhary by a margin of 1,339 votes.

For the vice-president post, ABVP’s Bhanu Pratap Singh received 24,166 votes, surpassing NSUI’s Yash Nandal by 8,762 votes — the largest winning margin among all posts.

ABVP’s Mitravinda Karanwal claimed the secretary post with 16,703 votes, while NSUI’s Lokesh Choudhary secured the joint secretary post with 21,975 votes.

Khatri highlighted his focus on rebuilding infrastructure and addressing basic issues like access to drinking water, noting that many Delhi University colleges lack this amenity.

“We have a lot of work to do. We need to rebuild the basic infrastructure and then the education infrastructure. We have to fight for basic amenities like drinking water. There are so many DU colleges which do not have proper drinking water,” he said.

Meanwhile, Karanwal reaffirmed ABVP’s commitment to fulfilling their manifesto promises, emphasising mental health and women’s healthcare services. “The first step ABVP wants to take is that counsellors should be available for all students of the university. Gynaecologists should be available in womens’ colleges as well as co-ed colleges. We have mentioned a big point about this in our manifesto. We will continue representing the needs of DU students,” she said.

The elections, conducted on September 27, faced delays due to allegations of widespread violations of Lyngdoh Committee guidelines and defacement of public property. The Delhi high court halted vote counting but later allowed it to proceed on November 11, provided the university was satisfied with a clean-up drive undertaken by the candidates.

The university undertook multiple rounds of cleaning to get rid of any defacement of public properties, before the results could be declared.

Ahead of the results, candidates signed affidavits agreeing to avoid disruptive celebrations, including loudspeakers, firecrackers, and pamphlet distribution. The announcements were made amidst heavy police barricading, with celebrations largely restricted to sloganeering.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said the victory of NSUI – the party’s student wing – underscores that city’s youth want change, and alleged that it shows that the Congress has strengthened ahead of the 2025 assembly elections in Delhi.

“DU students have fully understood that only the Congress and its students wing NSUI can effectively champion their causes for them to pursue their education in a conducive environment without politicising education in the campus… The wins of the NSUI candidates is a clear message that the Congress party was all set to return to power in the Capital in the February 2025 assembly elections,” said Yadav.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose student wing is ABVP, declined to comment on the election results.