DUSU election 2018: Polling underway in 52 centres, 1.35 lakh Delhi University students expected to vote

New Delhi: Polling is underway for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections at 52 centres in colleges, an official said on Wednesday. As many as 1.35 lakh students will decide the fate of 23 candidates in the DUSU polls. [caption id=“attachment_5168121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Students queued up to cast votes as voting began at 8.30 am. Rahul Satija/101 Reporters[/caption] Senior faculty members have been posted as observers at the centres and around 700 electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been installed, the official said. Polling began at 8.30 am in morning colleges and will end at 1 pm. In evening colleges, it will be held between 3 pm and 7.30 pm. In the fray are the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) student wing which is contesting the polls in alliance with the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), and left-wing students’ outfit All India Students Association (AISA). While the NSUI has promised the “Institute of Eminence” tag for Delhi University and thalis for Rs 10, the ABVP has promised to spend 50 percent of the union’s budget on women and social justice-related activities, along with a special attention to promoting sports and installing sanitary pad vending machines on college campuses. After the AAP came to power in Delhi in February 2015, its students’ wing had unsuccessfully contested the DUSU polls. It has promised to ensure installation of CCTV cameras, setting up of police booths on campus, ending the “culture of hooliganism” and opposing the commercialisation of education. The results will be announced on Thursday. Last year, the polls saw a 43 percent voter turnout.