DUSU polls: Varsity to offer Community Radio for campaigning

New Delhi, Aug 25: With the poll process for Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) gaining momentum, the varsity's Community Radio is offering a platform to candidates contesting various posts to use the medium to reach a wider audience for campaigning.

"We promote paperless campaigning for the students union polls and have therefore decided to allow the broadcast of speeches by respective candidates on its Community Radio 90.4 MHz for campaigning," said D S Rawat, Chief Election Commissioner for DUSU polls.

The maximum time allotted for each speech shall be five minutes. The speech shall be vetted, and edited if necessary, by a committee comprising Chief Election Officer, Chief Returning Officer and Returning Officer.

If any candidate needs more time than the decided time slots, the varsity is open to revising the timings if there are requests from majority contestants.

"The speech for each post shall be broadcast according to the alphabetical order of the names of contestants for each posts.

"The dates of the broadcast will be from September 7 to 9, depending upon the availability of time slots and the same shall be repeated too," Rawat said.

Delhi University's Community Radio (DUCR), which started operating in 2007 is available on the frequency 90.4 MHz and has a radius of 10 km.

Campaigning through this medium assumes significance for the candidates keeping in mind the Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations which permits the contestants to keep their campaigning budget within Rs 5,000.

The elections are scheduled for September 11 and the students' wings of various political parties have intensified their campaign. 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.

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 year, the DUSU polls are set to witness a triangular contest with AAP's youth wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) making its debut.

PTI