DUSU polls: Sandeep Dikshit says alleged irregularities affected close contests

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit has called for allegations of irregularities in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election to be examined following malpractice being reported at polling centres by several NSUI members.

Dikshit said the NSUI president had told him of the alleged malpractice during counting. He also claimed NSUI campaigners had faced obstruction and been denied access. These concerns required scrutiny, he said, because some contests had been decided by relatively narrow margins. The allegations have not been established.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won the president, secretary and joint secretary posts. Independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen, won the vice-president’s post.

In the presidential contest, ABVP’s Yash Dabas received 24,576 votes, defeating NSUI candidate Vijai Shankar Meena by 2,053 votes. ABVP’s Lakshya Raj Singh won the joint secretary’s post with 16,615 votes. Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha candidate Vishesh Yadav came second with 15,778, while the NSUI’s Gopal Chaudhary was third with 15,206.

The ABVP candidate for secretary received 21,650 votes against 14,869 for the NSUI candidate. Shokeen, meanwhile, won the vice-president’s race by a substantial margin over both the ABVP and NSUI candidates.

Dikshit said Delhi University elections were also shaped by local issues, regional affiliations and candidates’ personal appeal. His comments came after a result that left the NSUI without central panel representation, including the vice-president’s post it had won last year.

With agency inputs