Fee Hike, Hostel Demand, Women’s Safety Dominate DUSU Poll Agenda

Quick Summary

• Key Issues: Fee hikes, hostel shortages, campus safety, and concessional metro passes are teh main issues driving the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election campaigns for September 18.
• Election Mandate: Contestants must submit a refundable ₹1 lakh bond to prevent property defacement during campaigning.
• Campaigns by Student Groups:

– ABVP (RSS-backed): Launched “My DU, My Manifesto” initiative; gathered inputs from students via dialogues across ten locations; raised concerns like fee regulation, better hostel allocation systems, and strengthening complaints committees.
– NSUI (Congress-backed): Addressing harassment incidents in North Campus areas while advocating for more police booths and concessional travel passes. Manifesto planning underway post student consultations.
– AISA-SFI Alliance (Left-affiliated): Criticized the bond mandate as undemocratic. Prioritized curbing fee hikes, expanding hostels and metro passes access to all students while aiming to reverse burdensome policies.

• Last year’s election results saw NSUI winning major posts after a seven-year gap while ABVP retained key positions.

Polling is scheduled for September 18 with counting on September 19.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The upcoming DUSU elections reflect deep-seated issues like affordability of education and campus welfare at Delhi University. While the ₹1 lakh refundable bond serves as an institutional attempt to curb defacement during campaigns-a problem highlighted by judicial intervention last year-it has sparked criticism across ideological lines about limiting democratic participation.

Each prominent student group has tailored its platform around critical concerns such as hostel availability or transport subsidies-indicative of growing financial pressures on students in India’s educational landscape. With diverse agendas spanning infrastructure reforms to policy rollback demands-this election poses an prospect for constructive discourse addressing long-standing challenges at DU campuses. However, effective implementation will require cooperation between elected representatives and university governance beyond electoral promises.

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