Student bodies pitch for improving voter turnout in DUSU polls

With DU elections just around the corner, student political outfits are visiting the DUSU chief election officer with multiple suggestions on poll reforms, most of them converging on the issue of improving voter turnout.
The low turnout is a common feature of varsity's student body elections. Every year, an average of only around 30 per cent of the students in the 50 DUSU-affiliated colleges come out to vote.
Today, the All India Students' Association (AISA) submitted a memorandum to CEO S B Babbar asking for deployment of VVPAT machines, inclusion of women-only colleges in the Delhi University Students' Union, and issuance of identity cards to all DU students which would ensure a larger turnout on voting day.

"We have suggested strict control of printed material to ensure the campuses are not littered and presidential debates in colleges of all zones," the CPI-ML's student wing said in the memorandum.
Last week it was the ruling ABVP and its arch rival, the Congress-affiliated NSUI, which made representations to the election committee suggesting poll reforms.
The National Students Union of India demanded mock drills of all EVMs, installation of VVPAT machines, and appointment of party polling agents, besides demanding ID cards to all students or allowing other IDs such as voter ID, PAN, Aadhaar for voting to increase the voter turnout.

The ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, demanded declaration of votes in every DU college to ensure transparency, attendance benefit for votes and strict implementation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.