The Delhi University polls is the first test for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) whose students’ wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) has entered the fray by pitting its candidates for all the four posts against the traditional rivals — Congress-backed NSUI and BJP-supported ABVP, according to sources.
With all eyes on the CYSS, university watchers feel that the ride to victory would not be a cake walk as the DUSU elections are quite different from the lok Sabha, State Assembly and municipal body elections as the ballot paper does neither mention the name of any party nor does it show their symbols. The ballot paper only has the name of the candidates and their serial numbers on it.
The final leg of the campaign broadly revolved around the serial number of the candidates of the respective parties, pointed out experts. For instance, the serial number of ABVP’s presidential candidate Satyender Awana and that of its vice president Sunny Dedha is 1. And the serial number of ABVP’s secretary Anjali Rana and joint secretary candidate Chatar Pal Yadav is 4. The ABVP had pitched its campaign by requesting students to vote for 1-1-4-4 candidates.
like the ABVP, the NSUI too had been requesting students to cast their vote against serial numbers 2-5-3-5 as its presidential candidate Pradeep Vijayaryan had been allocated serial number I; its VP candidate Prerna Singh number 5; secretary Amit Sehrawat has number 3 and its joint secretary nominee Deepak Chaudhary has been allocated serial number 5.
But the CYSS candidates were seen busy campaigning in the name of their AAP leadership rather than the serial numbers they had been allocated, said sources. The CYSS’s presidential candidate Kuldeep Bidhuri has been allotted number 5; VP candidate Garima Rana number 3; secretary Rahul Raj Aryan number 8 and joint secretary nominee Hitanshi Chauhan number 7. The one’s who would be voting for the entire CYSS panel need to remember 5-3-8-7 sequence.
Many students at DU said it was very easy for them to remember the serial numbers of both the ABVP and the NSUI. candidates They, however, said the serial numbers allocated to CYSS were not easy to remember. So it’s wait and watch situation between 1-1-4-4 versus 2-5-3-5 versus 5-3-8-7. While CYSS campaigned aggressively by even inviting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the NSUI and the ABVP followed their traditional format of ensuring that the students do correctly remember the serial number on the ballot against which they have to cast their votes.
In such a background, it would be interesting to see whether the CYSS will be able to repeat its stellar Delhi performace in Delhi University too.