DU records lowest poll turnout in 13 years

The first-year voters play a major role but unfortunately, a majority of them were not informed that they can vote using their fee receipts as well if they haven’t got their ID cards.

Scenes from Delhi University on Friday — a lot of flyers were seen scattered on the road; long queues of voters were noticed at some places outside the polling booths (Photo | Express)

NEW DELHI: Delhi University, on Friday, recorded the lowest voter turnout — 29.7% — in the past 10 elections, as students cast their votes for the DUSU’s central panel amid heavy police presence.

It was 13 years ago in 2011 when the DUSU election had seen a voter turnout of 30% owing to heavy rainfall that day. However, last year the voter turnout was recorded to be 42%.Commenting on low turnout, ABVP’s Ashutosh Singh said,

“The major reason could be the delayed admissions this year. The first-year voters play a major role but unfortunately, a majority of them apparently were not informed that they can vote using their fee receipts as well if they haven’t got their ID cards.”

Meanwhile, the NSUI leaders blamed the ABVP for the low turnout alleging hooliganism on their part.

Going by the data shared by the election officer, a majority of the colleges couldn’t even gather 50% of the voters on Friday.

In the College of Vocational Studies where the total voters were 3,203, only 908 votes were polled and in Deshbandhu College, it was 1,432 votes out of 4,101 voters. Similarly, in Hindu College, where total voters were 4,627, only 1,857 votes were cast. Ramjas too saw low voting percentage at 35% (2,137 votes out of 5,980). The results for the evening college, however, are still awaited.

For the voters, core issues ranged from fee hikes to the lack of affordable accommodations to enhanced security during college fests to menstrual leaves.

Security on the campus

Over 500 security officials, 600 EVMs in 52 colleges, 60 observers for the polling stations and hundreds of party supporters outside the departments in all enthusiasm trying to woo voters at the last minute marked the polls on Friday.

The first phase of the polling for the DUSU elections began at 9:30 am and ended by 1:30 even though the scheduled timin was between 8:30 am to 1 pm.

The polling stations witnessed long queues till 1:15 pm. As per the officials, the initial first two hours of the voting saw a very low turnout as hardly 40-50 students managed to reach the colleges.