New Delhi — The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), backed by the RSS, registered a thumping victory in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections on Friday, securing three of the four posts, including the coveted president’s position.
Aryan Maan of ABVP clinched the president’s post by defeating Joslyin Nandita Choudhary of the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) with a massive margin. The win marked a significant setback for NSUI, which had held the president’s office under Ronak Khatri.
According to results declared after 16 rounds of counting, ABVP candidates also triumphed in the secretary and joint secretary contests, while NSUI managed to retain the vice president’s seat. The counting began Friday morning amid tight security, a day after polling across DU colleges.
Final tallies showed Maan winning the president’s post with 21,854 votes, while NSUI’s Choudhary secured 9,973. NSUI’s Rahul Jhansla emerged as vice president with 22,770 votes, defeating ABVP’s Govind Tanwar, who garnered 16,013. ABVP’s Kunal Chaudhary won the secretary’s post with 18,506 votes, and Deepika Jha bagged the joint secretary’s position with 16,501 votes, overcoming NSUI’s Lavkush Badhana, who polled 13,996.
Maan, a resident of Haryana’s Bahadurgarh, had promised subsidised metro passes, free campus Wi-Fi, accessibility audits for students with disabilities, and better sports facilities during his campaign. His rival, Choudhary, a postgraduate in Buddhist Studies, focused on hostel shortages, campus safety, and menstrual leave.
While the SFI-AISA alliance fielded Anjali from Indraprastha College for Women on a platform addressing gender sensitisation, fee hikes, and grievance redressal, the combine trailed behind both ABVP and NSUI.
This year’s results come after NSUI ended its seven-year drought in 2024 by winning the president and joint secretary posts. Over the last decade, ABVP has dominated the DUSU presidency six times, while NSUI has held it twice.
Considered a stepping stone into mainstream politics, the DUSU polls have historically produced national leaders, including late Arun Jaitley, Ajay Maken, Alka Lamba, and Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta. Established in 1949, the student union has remained one of India’s most closely watched student political contests.
