40 percent turnout in Delhi varsity student union polls

NEW DELHI - A mere 40 percent of the electorate turned out Friday for the elections to the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), officials said.

The turnout defied the election office’s expectation of a substantial turnout as the number of “freshers” had increased this year.

Altogether 41 students are in fray for the four posts of president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary, the results of which will be declared Saturday.

The fate of 11 candidates contesting for the post of DUSU president was locked Friday along with 30 others who contested for the other three posts.

University officials said the elections were peaceful.

The south and north campuses were both heavily guarded and intensively patrolled by policemen. Some of the major roads were blocked to smoothly carry out the election process.

“The election process was absolutely peaceful. Keeping a strict tab on security, we sealed all the entry and exit points for vehicles near the polling stations. No one was allowed near the polling booths without a valid identity card,” Gopi Nath, station house officer of Maurice Nagar, told IANS.

“As many as 943 EVMs were pressed into service. There were 111 centres for the college elections and 130 for DUSU,” said Chief Electoral Officer Gurmeet Singh.

Meanwhile, activists of student body Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested in front of Singh’s house Friday evening against the “failure” of the University’s administration in checking “irregularities” by rival National Students Union of India (NSUI).

NSUI leader Amrita Dhawan, however, refuted claims of irregularities and said the outfit is confident of victory in all the seats.

Lat year, an ABVP-backed independent candidate had won the post of DUSU president after disqualification of both official candidates of NSUI and ABVP.