It was a day charged with polling fever at Delhi University as students from across the colleges reached the campus early morning to cast votes for their candidates in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections on Friday. North campus, where most of the oldest leading colleges, St Stephen’s college, Miranda House, Ramjas and Hindu college are housed, were turned into a fortress with heavy police presence to facilitate smooth polling.
The students were doing flash dance and clicking selfies after voting and uploading them on the social networking sites. This year, social media campaigning was taken too seriously. All the parties used Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp to connect with students. Even though wastage of paper was strictly ordered to be avoided by the university authorities, paper pamphlets were scattered across the roads of the university.
Craze of the electioneering was so high that the university was not only thronged by students, but the leaders of Aam Aadmi Party made rounds of the university in support of its newly-introduced student wing Chhratra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS). But the police did not allow any interference in the student’s polls.
“I have never seen such arrangement in the DUSU polls. The cooperation from police is very good since the security has been arranged brilliantly,” Deputy Dean of Students Welfare, Gurmeet Tuteja told The Pioneer.
On the peripheries of the university, huge barricades were put in place to stop outsiders to get inside the university, while policemen on bikes were placed to stop any kind of nuisance. AAP leaders Alka lamba, Rakhi Birla and Sanjeev Jha came to the campus to show support for CYSS, but they were denied entry into the university premises. Jha, who was seen roaming inside the campus with two other AAP members, was detained for some time and later told to leave the university premises.
Students were seen hooting as they voted for different student organisations. Besides merriment, the students seemed well-informed and were clear to vote candidates on the basis of issues, said sources.
“I think rollback of CBCS is a must, so I am going to vote for the party which promises to stand against this system to push the government to take it back. I have been observing the candidate speeches and weighed them on their capability to stand as a representative of the students,” said Saqi, second year student at Kirori Mal College.
Most of the students were concerned about the CBCS, women’s security, infrastructure development and demands of compact campus.
The involvement of political parties was clearly visible with many students claiming that their concerning MlAs had communicated to them on why they should vote for a particular students organisation.
Priya Yadav, first year student of Shri Ram College of Commerce said after voting for her college panel she would vote for the candidates for DUSU elections since her MlA had clearly told her the pros of that organistion.
However, some volunteers were seen picking the pamphlets scattered on the roads soon after the end of first phase of election in the early part of the day.