NSUI wins big in ABVP stronghold DU

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13

Buoyed by the win of its student wing, the National Students Union of India, in the high-stake Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections, the Congress today claimed that the political tide in the country was turning.

 Moments after NSUI’s Rocky Tusheed and Kunal Sehrawat were declared winners for the posts of president and vice-president, respectively, a senior Congress leader remarked: “Our victory is a very good sign.”

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While Tusheed defeated BJP-affiliate ABVP’s Rajat Chaudhary  by 1,590 votes, Sehrawat defeated ABVP’s Paarth Rana by 175 votes. The ABVP, which has a stronghold in DUSU, bagged two seats — joint secretary and general secretary. Last year, ABVP had bagged three posts with the NSUI winning one — that of joint secretary. 

Officially, the Congress hailed the development as a victory of “progressive forces” with senior leader Manish Tewari declaring: “This NSUI win signals winds of change. It is significant as it mirrors a trend. The NSUI has now won elections in Panjab University, Rajasthan University and Delhi University. This shows the segment that the BJP fiercely wooed on the eve of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections is getting disenchanted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unfulfilled promises.”

Tewari, a former NSUI president, said it was significant that the NSUI had won the DUSU poll after four years. DU had cancelled the nomination of the NSUI presidential candidate, which was restored through the High Court’s intervention.

“ABVP has claimed victory on the joint secretary’s post, we know the result is rigged. We will be moving the High Court,” said NSUI national president Fairoz Khan.