Over 17,000 voters chose NOTA in DUSU polls

New Delhi, Sep 10: More than 17,000 voters in the Delhi University Students' Union elections opted for the None of The Above (NOTA) option introduced for the first time this year.

"A significant number of 17,712 voters opted for NOTA, introduced in DUSU polls this year," said D S Rawat, Chief Election Commissioner for the polls. For the four central panel posts, the results of which were announced today, NOTA vote share ranged from 6.3 per cent to 12.6 per cent.

The highest NOTA count was for the post of secretary where 5,616 votes were polled in the category amounting to 12.6 per cent vote share, while the lowest was for the president's post where 3,021 votes were polled, which is 6.3 per cent vote share.

The NOTA vote share for the vice president and joint secretary posts are 8.8 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively. The elections, held yesterday, saw a turnout of over 36.9 per cent, a dip of 7 per cent from last year's 43.3 per cent turnout.

A total of 1,23,246 students were eligible to exercise their franchise. While DU was the first university to introduce Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in its students' union polls, JNU was the first to introduce NOTA.

DUSU is the representative body of students from most of the colleges and faculties of the university. The polls have been keenly contested over decades and are seen as a stepping stone to mainstream politics.

Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Vijay Goel, Congress leader Ajay Maken, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay are some of the prominent politicians whose journey into mainstream politics began from DUSU.

This year, RSS' student outfit, ABVP, maintained its dominance in DUSU polls bagging three seats including that of the president, while Congress' NSUI made a comeback by winning the joint secretary post.

PTI