DUSU polls: Nomination ends, voting on September 11

New Delhi, Sep 2: The Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls entered the second phase with the conclusion of the nomination process today in which a total of 169 applications were found valid.

"While 43 nominations were found valid for the post of President, 40 nominations were validated for the post of Vice President," said DS Rawat, DU faculty and Chief Election Commissioner for DUSU polls told PTI.

"The nominations found valid for the posts of Secretary and Joint Secretary were 39 and 45 respectively," he said adding, overall twelve nominations were rejected during the scrutiny. The candidates can withdraw their nominations latest by 12 noon on September 4.

The polling will take in two phases (morning and evening) on Sept 11 followed by counting of votes on September 12 after which results will be announced.

Students' wings of various political parties have intensified their campaign ahead of the keenly contested polls which are considered as stepping stones to mainstream politics.

Last year, the DUSU polls were swept by BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) trouncing Congress' National Students' Union of India (NSUI) to bag all four positions.

This time the DUSU polls are set to witness a triangular contest with AAP's youth wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) making its debut. While CYSS had last week announced its candidates for the polls, the left-affiliate All India Students Association (AISA) today announced its panel for the polls.

NSUI and ABVP are expected to announce their nominations on September 5. Another new entry in DUSU polls this year is Shiromani Akali Dal’s youth wing, Students’ Organisation of India (SOI).

They are also yet to announce their candidates. DUSU is the representative body of the students from most colleges and faculties. Apart from DUSU, which is an umbrella council, each college also has its own students' union for which they hold separate elections.

PTI