DU releases admission data to refute Rahul Gandhi’s claim of caste bias

Strongly rebutting Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of caste-based bias in admissions, Delhi University (DU) on Sunday released data on student enrolment in the academic year 2025-26 through CUET and urged the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha to refrain from making “unsubstantiated” statements.

“The University of Delhi implements all its statutory mandates in the true spirit of the Constitution of India, as clearly reflected in our transparent admission and recruitment processes,” the university said in a post on X.

According to the DU data for postgraduate students enrolled in academic session 2025-26 based on CUET, there were a total of 4022 (38.59 per cent) unreserved (UR) students, 3115 OBC (Other Backward Classes) (29.88 per cent) students, 1488 SC (Scheduled Caste) (14.27 per cent) students, 614 ST (Scheduled Tribe) (5.89 per cent) students and 1203 EWS (11.54 per cent) (Economically Weaker Section) students. The total number of PG students enrolled was 10,422.

Data for undergraduate programmes for the academic session 2025-26 showed that 32777 (46.56 per cent) students were enrolled under the UR category, 17971 (25.52 per cent) were under OBC, 10517 (14.93 per cent) were SC students, and 3251 (4.62 per cent) and 5879 (8.35 per cent) were, respectively, ST and EWS students. The total number of enrolled students for UG programmes stood at 70,395.

“We urge the Leader of the Opposition to refrain from making unsubstantiated statements. Such remarks undermine the healthy learning environment at the university,” the university said in its post.

Rahul Gandhi had made the controversial remarks on Friday while addressing an event in Lucknow to mark the birth anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram. “I had gone to Delhi University. An interview is just a way to eliminate students. They ask what your caste is, and then you fail in the interview, Rahul had said.

Responding to the allegations, the DU had on Saturday said that the university admits students primarily based on the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores, and the standard admission process does not mandate interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

In the post on Sunday, the DU also shared data for appointments of teachers (including librarians and physical education) from 2021 to March 15, 2025.

In the period mentioned, according to the data, 2123 (41.99 per cent) appointments have been made under the UR category, 717 (14.18 per cent) under the SC category, 349 (6.90 per cent) under the ST category, 1282 (25.35 per cent) under the OBC category, 422 (8.35 per cent) and 163 (3.22 per cent) under the EWS and PwD categories, respectively. The total number of recruitments stood at 5056.