Delhi University on Saturday announced results of its student union elections, declaring National Students Union of India (NSUI) the winner of three posts— president, vice-president and secretary—with a yawning margin ranging from 2,600 to 5,000 votes against Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
However, there was a tie between the candidates of the NSUI and ABVP for the post of joint secretary wherein chief election officer gave the parties one of the two options, either divide the tenure between both candidates or re-count the votes for the post.
One short of clean sweep by the NSUI didn’t go down well with the ABVP which had initially claimed to be leading while the counting was on but as the tables turned towards NSUI, the BJP-affiliate student wing levelled allegations of foul play against the Congress-supported wing of the NSUI. “We were leading initially.
Suddenly there was a turn of events and NSUI started leading with good margin,” said an ABVP candidate. “We feel there is a foul play. We saw two big boxes inside the counting room where neither media nor the candidates were allowed. The chief election officer was busy on the phone for at least half-an-hour after which the final results were declared,” added the candidate.
Security was tightened at the conference centre where the counting took place. Only persons carrying Delhi University (DU) passes were allowed to enter the premises.
Roads leading to the centre were also barricaded till afternoon.
After the news of NSUI’s victory spread, 10 ABVP members entered the conference centre
demanding recounting.
“They broke chairs inside the conference centre. With about 100 policemen on duty in and around the counting centre, the members still managed to enter forcefully,” said an NSUI member.
According to Rohit Chahal, an ABVP member, many supporters of his organisation were lathicharged. “The students went till the conference centre’s gate. Security guards weren’t allowing them to go inside,” he said. “After an argument the security guards started hitting the students. The cops dragged the students on the main road and started beating them with sticks,” he said.
The lathicharge took place inside the Faculty of Arts, opposite conference centre, where ABVP supporters were shouting slogans.
“The cops came and started beating everyone around the central library. I am not even a member of any party. I was just leaving the library after issuing a book. They hit me also,” said Rohit, a postgraduate student of History.
On-duty police officials said the ABVP members broke the glass windows of a Delhi Transport Corporation bus parked on the campus.
“A complaint was received from the university authorities that some students had climbed over the gate at the entry point leading to the counting centre. They were trying to barge into the building with a motive of seizing the EVMs,” said Sindhu Pillai, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), north district. “A crowd of supporters gathered outside the gate and created a riot-like situation. We managed to disperse them,” added Pillai.
Around 10 to 12 students were taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital. “Three students are critical and have been shifted to the AIIMS trauma centre. We want recounting of votes. We will not let DU function on Monday,” said Chahal.
“The chief election officer is a Congress supporter and should be looked into. If the lathicharge happened because of our prompting then one must check the CCTV footages,” added Chahal.
Last year, while the president was from NSUI, ABVP won three other posts in the central panel.
How they fared
NSUI's candidate for President, Arun Hooda won by a margin of 5,000 votes. Hooda got 17,621 votes against ABVP's candidate Ankit Dhananjoy Choudhry who got 12,156 votes.
NSUI's candidate for Vice-President Varun Khari was given 1,78,481 votes while rival Gaurav Chaudhary got 13,373
NSUI's candidate for Secretary Varun Choudhry got 15,605 votes while ABVP's Ritu Rana was given 12,988 votes.
There was a tie for the post of joint secretary. Both party candidates got 13,164 each.
