Many names have been withdrawn since signing up for the polls
Many names have been withdrawn since signing up for the polls
On Thursday, the much-awaited list of Delhi University students' union election nominees was released for the DUSU polls 2011 by the varsity. After much talk and long hours of verification, the final list of candidates was released in the evening. For the four sought-after seats of the students' union, the number of candidates finalised for the various posts stand as: 14 for the office of president, 9 for the office of vice-president, 10 for the office of secretary and 8 for the office of joint secretary. 
Future leaders? ABVP candidates at North Campus, Delhi University,
in New Delhi on Thursday. Pic/Subhash Barolia
The student candidates are from various political affiliations in the country, including Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), National Students Union of India (NSUI), All India Students Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Bahujan Samaj Party and others.
For a long time, the main tussle for the polls in DU has been between the two rival parties vis- -vis BJP-led ABVP and Congress-led NSUI. Thursday being the final day of withdrawal of candidature, five out of nine ABVP and eight out of 12 NSUI candidates withdrew from contesting the polls.
As per the final candidature, Neha Singh, Vikas Chaudhry, Vikas Yadav and Deepak Bansal are the four names from ABVP. On the other hand, Ajay Chhikara, Bhupendra Chaudhry, Parag Sharma, and Ashish Chaudhry from NSUI will contest for the seats of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary.
Celebrations
Deputy Dean, Students Welfare, Gurpreet Singh Tuteja said, "There was a lot of euphoria among students as they celebrated the beginning of polls today. The campaigning activities will begin tomorrow under strict surveillance."u00a0u00a0
Neha Singh, a graduate from Aurobindo College, in English (H), and presently an MA student of the Department of Buddhist Studies, is the presidential face put up by the last time winner--ABVP. "I have been associated with the party for long. This is the first time I will be contesting the students' union polls. The two basic agendas on my mind include continuing the fight against corruption and improving the infrastructure in various colleges of DU," Singh said. However, the NSUI candidates have a different agenda on mind and believe that last year's union did not do much for students' rights.
The agendas
Parag Sharma, a student of Dept of Buddhist Studies, contesting for the office of secretary, NSUI, said, "Our agenda, after coming to power, will focus on facilities for students since their rights have stayed neglected for long, and even last year's union did not do much in this respect. We will focus on providing better hostel and transportation facilities, and increasing the number of seats available in the varsity."u00a0u00a0
As the election process has begun, the security in and around the election office has been heightened and a team of police officials is on the vigil. Around 15 CCTV cameras have been installed apart from those in place already, from the entrance to the election office and surrounding areas.
I Usha Rao, chief election officer, DUSU elections, said, "We had received a total of 269 nominations, out of which a lot of names were withdrawn later. We have scrutinised each of them and then prepared the final list. Also, we have taken all precautionary measures to avoid any untoward incident during the poll process, even though students have all the right to campaign peacefully or otherwise as well."
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