The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) secured three of the four central posts in the 2026-27 Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, winning the president, secretary and joint secretary positions.
ABVP’s Yash Dabas emerged victorious in the presidential contest, defeating Congress-backed NSUI candidate Vijai Shankar Meena by 2,053 votes. Dabas secured 24,576 votes.
Riya Chhawdi won the secretary post for ABVP, while Lakshya Raj Singh secured the joint secretary position.
The vice-president’s post, however, went to Independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen. He secured 30,615 votes after contesting the election independently following his failure to receive an NSUI ticket.
Independent candidate wins VP post
Shokeen maintained a significant lead over his rivals during the counting process before being declared the winner.
The result meant that the Congress-backed NSUI did not secure any of the four central panel posts. The AISA-SFI alliance had also fielded candidates for all four positions.
The results followed a closely watched election that saw ABVP and NSUI engage in a high-profile contest for the central panel.
Voting recorded 40.46 per cent turnout
Polling for the four posts — president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary — was held on Friday in two shifts.
Students from morning colleges voted between 8:30 am and 1 pm, while evening-college students cast their votes from 3 pm to 7:30 pm. The election recorded an overall voter turnout of 40.46 per cent.
Several colleges, including Miranda House, Ramjas College, Faculty of Law and Sri Venkateswara College, also held their respective college-level student body elections.
EVMs deployed across colleges
Chief election officer Professor Raj Kishore Sharma said around 960 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were deployed across 48 colleges and 12 university departments. Another 40 machines were kept in reserve to deal with technical problems.
By 7 pm on Friday, 43 EVMs had reached the counting centre ahead of Saturday’s counting, ANI reported.
Campaign violations remain a concern
The election process also saw concerns over campaign-related violations. Despite repeated observations by the Delhi High Court regarding campaign guidelines and measures put in place for the DUSU polls, campaign material was reported across university campuses.
Vehicles playing loud music and physical altercations between student groups were also reported during the election process.
With the results declared, ABVP will hold three of the four central posts in the new DUSU panel, while Shokeen will serve as vice-president.