DU students group moves high court over DUSU poll

A students body of Delhi University Monday filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court, seeking allotment of ballot numbers to candidates by draw of lots for the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections.

The left-wing All India Students Union (AISA) filed the petition for the Sept 12 DUSU elections.

Currently, candidates for the DUSU elections are allotted ballot number in alphabetical order.

"A writ petition was filed in Delhi High Court with the prayer that honourable court directs DU authorities to allot ballot numbers by draw of lots during DUSU elections," said Aman Gautam, AISA leader of Venkateswara College.

The students wing alleged that as the ballot numbers are given in alphabetical order the contesting candidates of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), through legal formalities, change their names by prefixing 'a' or 'A' to it to secure the preferred ballot number one which gives them undue advantage.

The NSUI is the student wing of the Congress and the ABVP is the student wing of the BJP.

According to Sunny Kumar, Delhi state secretary of 'AISA, they also filed an RTI query with DU authorities and the information received clearly establishes that in the 2012 elections, three candidates who had won the elections had 'A'/'a' prefixed to their names, and in the 2013 election all four candidates who won the election had 'A' prefixed to their names.