With limited finances and not much time to campaign the various campuses of Delhi University, candidates have now found a new platform to help them reach out to the maximum number of students. The widely popular DU Community Radio will broadcast the speeches of candidates in the fray in the upcoming DUSU elections.
According to Chief Election Commissioner DS Rawat, the university has decided to allow the broadcast of speeches by respective candidates on its Community Radio 90.4 MHz for campaigning. “The maximum time allotted for each speech shall be five minutes. The speech shall be vetted, and edited if necessary, by a committee comprising Chief Election Officer, Chief Returning Officer and Returning Officer. The speech for each post shall be broadcasted according to the alphabetical order of the names of contestants for each post. The broadcast will be from September 8 to 10, depending upon the availability of time slots and the same shall be repeated too,” Rawat said.
With campaign moves of the candidates being scrutinised as per the lyngdoh committee recommendations, the opportunity to address the university students through community radio is a lucrative one for them. Spokesperson of the National Students’ Union of India Amrish Ranjan Pandey said, “It’s a lucrative opportunity as the candidates will get to convey their messages to a larger audience at a time. However, the duration of five minutes is too less.”
However, ABVP national secretary Rohit Chahal said, “It takes time to physically go to each of the colleges and a candidate gets to meet a bunch of students. Since, the rules don’t permit campaigning on commercial FM channels, doing it through community radio is a good option.”