Counting of votes in Delhi University Students Union election begins

Voting for Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections began on Sat. with 42% turnout. 24 candidates are in the fray for the 4 central panel posts.

Counting of votes for Delhi University Students Union elections began on Saturday and the results of all four central panel posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary are expected to be announced soon.

Twenty-four candidates are in the fray for the elections.

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.

Chander Shekhar -- the chief election officer for the polls -- said the university recorded a voter turnout of 42 per cent. Around one lakh students were eligible to vote in the election.

While the voting percentage was higher than in 2019 when a turnout of 39.90 per cent was recorded, it failed to surpass the nearly 11-year-high figure of 2018. The turnouts in 2018 and 2017 were 44.46 per cent and 42.8 per cent, respectively.

Elections at 52 colleges and departments for the central panel were conducted through EVMs while voting for the college union polls was on paper ballot.

For the students, core issues ranged from fee hikes to the lack of affordable accommodations, enhanced security during college fests and menstrual leaves.