NEW DELHI, 4 September 2005 — The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress party, yesterday swept Delhi University Students Union elections with its candidates winning all four seats of president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary.
NSUI candidates Ragini Nayak and Amrita Dhawan claimed the key posts of president and vice president. The post of secretary was won by Ramit Sherawat and that of joint secretary by Deepak Choudhury.
With high-pitched campaigning preceding the elections, officials did not take any chances and hundreds of personnel of Delhi Armed Police and Rapid Action Force were deployed. Close-circuit televisions were also put up in some colleges to keep a watch on the supporters of the student organisations.
The voting on Friday was largely peaceful. An estimated 45 percent of 85,000 students voted.
The contest was between NSUI and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, or ABVP, the students wing of the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party. The two organizations have dominated DUSU for many years.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit congratulated the students shortly after the verdict yesterday afternoon, with Sonia specifically thanking the youth for backing her party’s vision. Celebrations erupted on the main campus of the Delhi University and victorious candidates covered in marigold flowers and tinsel took out processions.
For the second year in a row, ABVP had to bite the dust, not even winning one post as it did the previous year. With many contemporary national leaders beginning their careers with these student elections, the DUSU election assumed greater political importance than ever before and saw unprecedented infusion of funds and issues often unrelated to students and colleges.
— Additional input from Indo-Asian News Service
