ABVP sweeps DUSU polls

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, has swept the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls bagging three out of the four key panel posts of President, General Secretary and the joint secretary.

Congress backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) managed to win the lone key panel post of vice-president.

ABVP’s Tushar Dedha won the president’s post by defeating NSUI's Hitesh Gulia by a margin of 3,115 votes. Dedha, a graduate from Satyawati College, and was currently pursuing Masters in Buddhist studies. Dedha secured a total of 23,460 votes and emerged victorious while his nearest rival NSUI’s Gulia could secure only 20,345 votes.

National Students' Union of India's Abhi Dahiya bagged the post of Vice President. Dahiya, who is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Buddhist studies, received 22,331 votes and defeated ABVP's Sushant Dhankar by a margin of 1,829 votes.

ABVP also bagged the key posts of secretary and joint secretary. ABVP’s Aparajita and Sachin Baisla defeated Congress-affiliated NSUI's Yakshana Sharma by a margin of 12,937 votes while Baisla defeated his nearest rival, also from the NSUI, Shubham Kumar Chaudhary by a margin of 9,995 votes.

Aprajita hails from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh and completed her BA (Honours) degree in history from Dyal Singh College. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Buddhist studies. Sachin Baisla graduated from Ramanujan College. He is pursuing a Masters degree in Buddhist studies.

The DUSU elections were last held in 2019. The polls could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 while possible disruptions to the academic calendar prevented their conduct in 2022.

Counting of votes for the DUSU's central panel posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary concluded on Saturday evening. The election was held on Friday.