AAP’s new student wing to make debut in DUSU poll

The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections have over a period of time become a battleground for student organisations to showcase their ideologies and leadership skills. It is evident from the fact that some members of DUSU made a mark in national politics. The list includes Arun Jaitley, former Union Finance Minister, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Alka Lamba, Nupur Sharma and Ajay Maken, among others.

This year, a new entity, Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), the student wing of AAP, will join the fray. Notably, the party had contested DUSU elections twice in 2015, after the AAP’s sweep in the Delhi Assembly elections and again in 2018 under the name, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS). However, it failed both times.

Kamal Tiwari, senior vice-president of the Delhi unit of the ASAP, told The Tribune that with a new name, “we are going to challenge both the ABVP and NSUI, and offer an alternative politics in the university.”

Tiwari said the ASAP would give a chance to people from Purvanchal, specially-abled, women and students from backward communities in contrast to the dominance of Jat, Gurjar and Yadav caste students in both NSUI and ABVP.

It is noteworthy that the ASAP has been raising the demands of students in the university unlike its predecessor CYSS, which had a lesser footprint in DU. Tiwari said due to their strong ground presence, students from ABVP and NSUI have joined their camp.

The DUSU elections have traditionally been dominated by two major student organisations, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the RSS, and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to the Congress.

DUSU is a representative body of students from colleges and faculties. Apart from this, each college has its own students union for which elections are held every year. The elections to DUSU are held through direct voting by students of the university and member colleges.

The history of DUSU dates back to 1947 when a committee under the chairmanship of VKRV Rao, then head of the DU Economics Department, was authorised to draft the constitution of the Delhi University Students Union and it was finally inaugurated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 9, 1949. However, the first elections were held in 1954.