Denied tickets by NSUI, one rebel sweeps vice-presidential race, another trails narrowly

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After being denied tickets by the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen swept the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) vice-presidential race with the highest vote count, while Vishesh Yadav narrowly missed the joint secretary post contesting for the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha (SCS).

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Saturday retained the posts of president, secretary and joint secretary in the polls, decimating the NSUI.

Although the NSUI’s presidential candidate, Vijay Shankar Meena, finished in close second place, this is the first time in recent years that the outfit failed to win a single seat on the central panel. The organisation, however, said that their struggle would continue and that candidates were selected thoughtfully with social justice in mind.

Mr. Shokeen secured 30,615 votes, winning with the largest number of votes and the biggest margin across the panel. Mr. Yadav bagged 15,778 votes, falling just 837 votes short of the ABVP winning candidate for the joint secretary post. He was leading the joint secretary race until the final rounds of counting, bringing the SCS remarkably close to securing a DUSU footprint for the first time since 2009.

In a video released last week, Mr.Shokeen, who had been associated with for four years, alleged that his candidature had been confirmed initially, but he later discovered that the ticket was given to another candidate “who parachuted from London”.

Originally from Delhi, Mr. Shokeen is the son of a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus conductor and an Anganwadi teacher. He is pursuing a master’s in Buddhist Studies after completing his graduation from Bhagat Singh College.

Following his victory on Saturday, he said that his first order of business would be to demand justice for the students who lost their lives in the recent Satya Niketan building collapse. At least seven persons, including DU students, lost their lives in the September 6 tragedy. and asked about his decision to contest independently, he said, “My aim was to contest and raise the voice of the students, which I did. I am grateful that the students of DU trusted me.”

Mr. Yadav, originally from Haryana, too, blamed his ticket denial on internal disagreements within the NSUI. “I was associated with the NSUI, but there were political pressures that I could not give in to. After the Satya Niketan tragedy, they wanted to record promotional videos and conduct politics their own way, rather than working ground-up,” Yadav said.

He added, “When I was at my lowest, I received a call from the Samajwadi Party motivating me to continue, and I decided to keep the fight alive.”

The NSUI had fielded Vijay Shankar Meena, an Adivasi candidate, for the post of president, who gave a tough fight to the winning ABVP candidate.