DU gets ready to vote

The Election fever is soaring and Delhi University is naturally not untouched. Though the upcoming semester exams figure on top of their minds, students are raring to exercise their power to ‘elect.’

Not just is it the excitement to vote ‘first-time’ for many, but also to convey their anger, disappointment and disapproval over corruption, inflation, poor security and other maladies afflicting Delhi of late.

The number of voters that Delhi University holds is also no mean business. DU has over five lakh students on its rolls while the total number of voters in the city is 1.15 crores. So even if half of DU students are eligible to vote, it would add up to over two per cent of Delhi’s total voter base! Metrolife decided to find out which way the wind is blowing.

Not unexpectedly, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has a number of young supporters in DU. Shreya Kankas of Gargi College says, “People have given a fair chance to both Congress and BJP at the Centre and State level. We all know how they performed. I think Aam Aadmi Party deserves our vote now. They are a new party and seem to be honest and hardworking. I’ll certainly vote in their favour.”

Shobha Subramanian, an Economics student at Hindu College concurs, “Any party which stays in power for too long becomes complacent. We have seen that happening in Bengal and it shouldn’t be repeated in Delhi. It’s high time we give rest to Congress and bring in a new contender like the Aam Aadmi Party.”

BJP, with its recent bike rallies, college visits by leaders like Narendra Modi etc. has also developed a substantial fan base. Tarishi Verma of Kamala Nehru College says, “I see BJP as the only alternative at the moment. I don’t agree with their views on every subject but then, other than Congress, they are the only ones who know anything about administration. AAP has no experience of governance, or ideas to speak of.”

A student of Ram Lal Anand College, who did not wish to be named, agrees, “With all the scams and inefficiency that we have seen in governance, I think it will be criminal to vote Congress back to power. The Delhi Assembly elections will be reflective of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and we must encourage the BJP as much as possible.”

The charm of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, however, does not seem to have  faded away altogether from the minds of the young voters. Nishant Gupta, a student of Shri Ram College of Commerce, says, “Congress has done very well for Delhi. In the past 15 years, we have seen tremendous development in the city the credit for which has to be given to them. This is a local election. We should not make it an akhada to thrash out national issues.”