Stage set for DUTA election today

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, September 26

In the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) election on Wednesday, an alliance backed by the Left, Congress and AAP will contest for the president’s post against the right-wing faction.

The DUTA elections are held for the post of president and 15 executive members. The elections will be held on September 27 at the Arts faculty. This year, only two candidates are in fray for the president’s post and 21 have filed nominations for executive member posts.

The association released the electoral roll on September 18 which included 8,698 eligible college teachers and 901 department teachers.

Current president Dr AK Bhagi from the RSS-affiliated National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF) will be contesting for the second-time. Meanwhile, Dr Aditya Narayan Misra has been nominated the joint candidate for the alliance.

A 10-body organisation along with independent teachers has formed an alliance — Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance (DUTA). The bloc includes Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), Academic for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA), Indian National Teachers’ Congress (INTEC), Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Delhi Teacher’s Initiative (DTI), Independent Teachers’ Front for Social Justice (ITF-SJ), Samajwadi Shikshak Manch (SSM), Voice of DU Adhocs, Janwadi Shikshak Manch and independent teacher activists like Prof Maya John and Ratan Lal.

In 2021, Bhagi was voted president after defeating Abha Dev Habib of DTF by a margin of 1,382 votes.