DUSU election 2018 today, all you need to know: Voting begins at 8.30 am; five candidates in fray for president's post

The elections to the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) are scheduled for Wednesday, with voting set to begin at 8.30 am. Students are required to carry their identity cards to cast their vote. The votes will be  counted on Thursday (13 September) from 8:30 am at the Community Hall in Police Lines in Delhi’s Kingsway Camp area. [caption id=“attachment_2886120” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] The DUSU elections is a triangular contest this year, with the entry of the alliance of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS). The alliance is expected to divide the votes that may have gone in favour of either of the two major student bodies — the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). The candidates There are five candidates each contesting for the post of the president and the vice-president of DUSU. The ABVP has fielded Ankiv Basoya for the post of the president. He is pursuing an MA in Buddhist Studies. Shakti Singh is the ABVP’s vice-presidential candidate. He is studying law at DU’s Faculty of Law. ABVP’s Sudhir, who is fighting for the secretary’s post, completed his graduation from Ramjas College and is currently pursuing an MA in Buddhist Studies. Jyoti Chaudhary, who is contesting for the post of joint secretary on an ABVP ticket, completed her graduation from Vivekananda College and is also pursuing an MA in Buddhist Studies at present. The NSUI nominated Sunny Chhillar for the DUSU president’s post. The son of a Delhi traffic police assistant sub-inspector, Chhillar graduated from Dyal Singh College and is pursuing a masters degree from Shivaji College. Leena, who completed her graduation from Miranda House and is currently pursuing an MA in Buddhist Studies, is NSUI’s candidate for the post of vice-president. Aakash Choudhary, who is contesting for the secretary’s post, was the union president of his alma matter, Sri Aurobindo College. He is currently pursuing law. Saurabh Yadav, the joint secretary candidate, is currently studying at Motilal Nehru College. The AISA-CYSS alliance has fielded Abhigyan, a student of Ramjas College, for the DUSU president’s post. Anshika Singh, a student of Dyal Singh College, is fighting for the post of vice-president. Chandramani Dev, a student of Law Centre-II, was nominated for the secretary’s position. PGDAV College student Sunny Tanwar is the alliance’s candidate for joint secretary. Only five women nominated for DUSU polls Women’s representation in the DUSU elections continues to remain low, with only five women contesting the polls this year of a total of 23 candidates. According to The Indian Express, six of the 24 candidates were women last year, and in 2016, eight of the 17 candidates were women. The Indian National Students’ Organisation’s Preeti Chauhan is the only woman nominated for the post of the DUSU president this year. NSUI wants candidature of ABVP’s vice-presidential nominee cancelled  The NSUI on Tuesday demanded the cancellation of the nomination of ABVP’s Shakti Singh for “indulging in violence”, reported NDTV. On Monday, members of the ABVP defaced property at Delhi’s Zakir Hussain College, while wielding sticks and raising slogans, reports said. “This all began when ABVP candidate Shakti Singh forcibly entered the college with 50 to 100 of his friends and started ransacking the property. To protect ourselves, we left the college and later picketed on the road for hours, demanding action,” Anoop, a student of the college, told IANS . However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Delhi), Manjeet Randhawa, denied receiving any complaint from the college. NSUI focuses on digital platforms The NSUI has claimed that this year, it became the first student organisation to launch a “digital manifesto” for the DUSU polls. Neeraj Mishra, NSUI media coordinator, was quoted as saying by The Asian Age: “Keeping in view the spirit of digital revolution introduced by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the manifesto was launched on Facebook and Twitter, where #NSUIDigiManifesto was on the top in the trending list in India.” Pragya Tomar of the NSUI told The Times of India, “I believe in paperless campaigning, and that is why we are focussing more on digital platforms. Last year’s results In 2017, 10 candidates contested for the presidential post. The contestants at the forefront were ABVP’s Rajat Choudhary, NSUI’s Rocky Tusheed, AISA’s Parul Chauhan and Independents Raja Choudury and Alka. The  NSUI had bagged the posts of president and vice-president, while the RSS-affiliated ABVP had won the posts of secretary and joint secretary. Tuseed became the DUSU president and Kunal Sehrawat the vice-president. ABVP’s Mahamedhaa Nagar became the DUSU secretary and Uma Shankar, the joint secretary. With inputs from agencies