Students swarm booths as Delhi University goes to the polls

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, September 22

Excitement and anticipation filled the atmosphere as students marched to their respective colleges on Delhi University Students’ Union election day to stand up and be counted.

The voting on Friday followed sporadic incidents of turbulence and violence through the previous days as hectic campaigning by ABVP, NSUI, AISA and SFI faced off.

Voting began at 8 am for morning colleges until 1 pm while for the evening colleges, it began at 3 pm and ended at 7.30 pm.

The counting of votes will begin on Saturday at 8 am in the conference centre, North Campus, DU. The voter turnout was around

42 per cent.

On the occasion of polling today, the Delhi Traffic Police had issued an advisory in the morning on X (Twitter) for and around North Campus.

Entry of commercial vehicles was prohibited and Chhatra Marg at the North Campus was completely closed for all motorists.

To ensure violence-free polling, Delhi Police officials were deployed heavily around all colleges and campus along with Central Armed Police Force personnel to assist in security arrangements. DU has over 80 affiliated colleges.

Many students today pointed out that the campus looked calmer compared to the days in the run-up to the voting.

Sachin (20), a student of Hindu College, said, “As the police are deployed today, we see lesser commotion. Earlier, the mood was totally different from what we are witnessing today.”

Another voter Shubhangi Singh, a computer science student from Hansraj College, said, “While it is exciting to see various student wings clash, it becomes scary too at times.”

Rashmi, a first-time voter from Hindu College, said she felt a lot safer today.

Student wing members of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) and NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) littered the campus with their candidates’ leaflets hoping to woo voters in the hours before the voting closed.

In one instance, NSUI and ABVP stood against each other in North Campus and shouted slogans.

During the last-minute voting, members of the organisations could be seen distributing leaflets to students before going to vote.