Amid heavy security, more than 1.45 lakh students cast their votes in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections at the varsity’s North and South campuses on Friday. The Delhi University which underwent elections was a scene of raucous activity, with candidates’ supporters still hard at distributing pamphlets and throwing flyers while students queued up at colleges to cast their votes.

The counting for the DUSU polls will be held only after October 21, when the Delhi High Court, which halted the process over defacement of public property by candidates, will hear the matter next, an election officer said on Friday. Rajesh Singh, Returning Officer for DUSU elections, said the counting of votes will take place after the next court hearing.

“The court will now hear the matter on October 21. Only after that will we be able to decide when the counting will take place,” he said.”It is likely the counting will be done after the court’s hearing,” he said.

Students stood in long lines at their colleges with the hope of seeing improvement in campus infrastructure, also women’s safety, a major issue.The voting was held in two phases, remained peaceful and except one or two incidents.

The race for the post of president is expected to be a close one between ABVP’s Rishabh Chaudhary, NSUI’s Rounak Khatri and AISA’s Saavy Gupta. The ABVP, the NSUI, the left-wing student body All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) have exuded confidence that their respective candidates would win.

After the voting, the student’s organizations- thanked students who cast their votes.

According to the office of chief election officer, DUSU, a total of 1,45,893 students from 52 colleges had cast their votes till 5.45 pm to elect a new president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary. The data for the remaining colleges is yet to be released. Heavy police deployment was made at both North and South campuses for smooth conduct of the elections. Police personnel were seen patrolling the campus on motorcycles. Polling was held in two phases. Students of morning colleges cast their votes till 1 pm and the second phase of polling for students of evening colleges started at 3 pm and continued till 7.30 pm.

Meanwhile, campus tea and food stalls, busy enough on usual days, made brisk business as students gathered there to discuss their political opinion. Several students have complained that they couldn’t cast their vote as they did not receive their identity cards.

A total of 21 candidates, eight are in the fray for the post of president, five for vice president, and four each for the posts of secretary and joint secretary.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the left-wing student body All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) are the key players this year.

Currently, the ABVP has the maximum number of seats in the student body and holds the posts of president, vice president and joint secretary. The NSUI holds the secretary’s post.

“The ABVP has been extensively campaigning for the elections for the past few days. We were able to reach out to around one lakh students during this period. The ABVP has had a strong presence in the DUSU for many years. We have consistently stood by the students and raised their concerns. “As a result, we are seeing a positive response and getting support from the students. We are confident that the students are with us and the ABVP will win the polls 4-0,” said ABVP national general secretary Yagywalkya Shukla.

NSUI president Varun Chaudhary said, “This year’s elections are not ordinary. They are crucial for saving the university. Over the years, a culture of violence has emerged in the university because of the ABVP. We have promised a violence-free campus.”

“In addition, we have also pledged to address issues like paper leaks and fee control,” he said. Rishabh Chaudhary, who hails from Ganaur, Sonipat, graduated from Shyam Lal College and is currently a student of the Department of Buddhist Studies. Saavy Gupta is a third-year law student at Law Centre-2.In the fray for the post of vice president are ABVP’s Bhanu Pratap Singh, NSUI’s Yash Nandal and AISA’s Ayush Mondal.

The ABVP has fielded Mitravinda Karanwal, a third-year student of History (Hons) at Laxmibai College, as its candidate for the post of secretary. She is up against NSUI’s Namrata Jeph Meena and SFI’s Anamika K.Aman Kapasia, a Hindi (Hons) graduate from PGDAV Evening College, is the ABVP’s pick for the post of joint secretary and will take on NSUI’s Lokesh Choudhary and SFI’s Sneha Aggarwal.