Autar Nehru (Delhi)

C counting of votes of the delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections which concluded on September 27, has been postponed by the Delhi high court. Responding to a petition filed by advocate Prashant Manchanda seeking directions to the government to take action against students who defaced public property during the hustings, the court permitted the university to continue with the election but barred it from counting the votes until it satisfies the court that all posters, hoardings, graffiti, and other campaign-related material are removed and public property is cleaned up. The next hearing is on October 21.

While hearing the petition, the bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela reprimanded the university for failing to take disciplinary action against students campaigning in the DUSU election and for “lacking moral authority and courage”. In an affidavit filed with the petition, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) declared that it removed four truckloads of material that included 16,000 billboards, 7,000 hoardings, 200,000 posters/pamphlets and 28,500 banners from the campuses of DU and its affiliated colleges.

The petitioner contended that the Lyngdoh Committee Report (2006) was violated by DU students despite its endorsement by the Supreme Court. The committee was constituted 18 years ago by the Union ministry of human resource development (renamed Union education ministry), following a Supreme Court order to eliminate the influence of money and muscle power in student union elections. It inter alia prohibited students with criminal records or misconduct from contesting elections and limited expenditure to Rs.5,000 per contestant. The guidelines also banned the use of printed posters, pamphlets or any other printed material for canvassing, permitting only hand-made campaign material.

In addition, the high court order directed the university to pay MCD Rs.4.55 lakh for removing illegal hoardings, posters, and banners. It also directed DU to bear the expenses incurred by other authorities, including government departments, and Delhi Metro, for restoring public property and to recover the costs incurred from candidates responsible for defacement of public property.

Meanwhile despite feverish poster campaigns, social media relays, rallies and dispensing freebies (chocolates, cosmetics, movie tickets and alcohol), only 35 percent of 100,000 eligible DU and affiliated college students cast their ballots for the 21 candidates contesting the posts of president, vice-president, joint secretary and secretary.
The main contestants for the four posts were backed by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the student wing of the BJP, and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) of the Congress. Last year, ABVP won three seats, NSUI one.

Although all major candidates were backed by national parties, the issues in the DUSU elections were trivial and self-serving, related to tuition fees concessions notwithstanding the reality that DU and affiliated colleges fees (Rs.4,000-60,000 per year) are arguably the lowest worldwide.

For ABVP candidates, the main poll issues were ‘one course, one fee structure’ for all postgrad courses, centralised allocation of residential accommodation and scholarships for SC/ST, OBC and EWS categories. NSUI campaigned for greater funding for campus infrastructure, exams transparency, and greater representation of students in college administration. Evidently, there is minimal awareness in higher education institutions that heavy subsidisation of collegiate and university education comes at the cost of public primary-secondary schooling.

Academics in Delhi ascribe the low turnout in DUSU elections to the growing disconnect between the student body and the union, and trivialisation of election issues. “Unlike JNU, with a composite campus for all 8,500 students including about 6,000 residing on campus, DU colleges are widely dispersed across the metropolis. Moreover, JNU hosts mature postgrad students ready to debate national, political and socio-economic issues. On the other hand, DUSU couldn’t muster even a solidarity march over the horrific rape-murder of the medical student in Kolkata,” says Dr. Abha Dev Habib, physics professor at Miranda House, a DU affiliated college.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the DUSU elections is important since the major contestants are backed by the BJP and Congress. Both parties want to be seen to have the support of youth in India’s largest public university with over 600,000 students.

With Delhi state elections scheduled for early next year, both parties deployed their star campaigners to endorse the contestants. Meanwhile although there is some tension about the DUSU election outcome in the offices of ABVP and NSUI, in the campuses of DU and 90 affiliated colleges, it’s business as usual.
Autar Nehru (Delhi)