Delhi University (DU) is all set to vote for its students’ union leaders on September 9, which means the atmosphere is buzzing and wherever you look, there are party manifestos filled with promises.

Since 1954, DU has annually held students’ union elections to for four key posts in Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) – President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint-Secretary.

The importance of DUSU elections is not restricted to the university. It has a long history of producing student leaders who have later gone on to become prominent in the national political arena. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Former Union Minister Ajay Maken, Member of Delhi Legislative Assembly Alka Lamba, spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sambit Patra and Minister of State Vijay Goel all began their political careers with DUSU.

Traditionally, the key contenders in DUSU elections are Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of BJP; National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Indian National Congress; and All India Student’s Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Aam Admi Party’s student organization Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) is a recent entrant, but has chosen to sit out this year’s election.

Last year, the election was swept by ABVP. Their candidates were voted into all four positions with a margin of over 4,500 votes on each seat. The party won popular support by its consistent campaigning against the much-criticized Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP), which increased the duration of the undergraduate degree by one year, putting extra financial strain on students.

% VOTE SHARE 2015 DUSU ELECTIONS

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While NSUI stood second with 22.3 per cent of the votes, the party did not receive the popular support it has enjoyed in the past. The NSUI defeat is largely credited to the party being in favour of the FYUP academic program, launched in 2014. The party withdrew its support for FYUP during the 2015 elections when the momentum for rolling back the program built up. CYSS further divided NSUI’s vote share.

CYSS debuted with the 2015 election, but failed to score any seat and stood at third position in overall vote count. Their Vice President candidate, Garima Rana (Hindu College), was the only one who managed to gain over 10,000 votes and stood second to ABVP candidate and current DUSU Vice-President, Sunny Dheda.

AISA got the least amount of votes in 2015, despite being a staunch critic of the FYUP program and being amongst the first parties to demand a rollback.

This year, all eyes are on ABVP. It’s been in power for two years consecutively and will need to show if it has fulfilled its promises to students.  They’ll need to show something more than the FYUP rollback, as it is unlikely that this one issue will bring them success again.

While final candidate lists are yet to be announced by the parties, shortlisted members have begun their campaign with posters all around campus to personal visits in colleges. ABVP candidate Abhishek Verma’s campaign boasts of his extensive political career. He is the current president of DU ABVP unit, former president of Kirorimal College, DU & has been the Executive Councilor of DUSU.

NSUI’s National President Amrita Dhawan was seen in forefront of the cultural event organized by the party in Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi where she met with Olympic Bronze Medalist Sakshi Malik in lieu of their women-oriented election campaign this year.

AISA has not put forward any candidate till yet but their ‘A Room of My Own’ campaign demanding right to hostel accommodation for all students has been garnering momentum. The campaign included ‘Hostel Satyagraha’, a two-day hunger strike.