Congress' Ajay Makan demands fresh DUSU polls

Congress leader Ajay Maken on Friday demanded re-poll for the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) alleging that the elections were rigged after the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) stopped due to technical glitches.

The Congress leader also demanded that the voters in the elections must exercise their franchise by stamping the ballot paper instead of pressing the button.

Addressing a press conference here, Maken said: "Despite the EVMs being functional, voting got suspended. Till the sixth round, National Students' Union of India (NSUI) was neck and neck with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The major question that I want to raise is that whenever an EVM stops working and is repaired, the result always comes in favour of the ABVP. How is it possible?"

Maken also claimed that the EVMs used in the elections were not supplied by the Election Commission (EC) of India. "Yesterday, the EC issued a letter that they have not issued any EVMs to the University for polling. Not only that, the Delhi University also didn't issue any letter clarifying from where they got the EVMs," he said.

On Thursday, ABVP swept the elections by winning three out of four posts of the DUSU, including that of the president, vice president and joint secretary positions, while NSUI only managed to secure the secretary's post.

Ankiv Basoya was elected as the new president of DUSU while Shakti Singh and Jyoti Choudhary were elected as the vice president and joint secretary, respectively. NSUI's Akash Choudhary bagged the position of secretary.

Meanwhile, sources from the Delhi University said that the EVMs used during the student union polls were procured from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL ) and were of a different module than those available with the Election Commission.