A day after the anointment of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi by the BJP as its prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the party’s youth wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), swept three of the four top posts in the Delhi University Students’ Union (Dusu) election. The ABVP stormed back to rule the DU students’ body after two long years.
In the wake of last year’s horrific gangrape incident, women’s security was the major issue raised by the ABVP during campaigning, apart from national issues like inflation and growing corruption.
Aman Awana, a student of Buddhist studies, Utkarsh Chaudhary and Raju Rawat of the ABVP won the post of president, vice-president and joint secretary respectively. Mr Rawat is also a student of Buddhist studies. The NSUI had to be satisfied with just one seat which was won by Karishma Thakur. A student of Lakshmibai College, Ms Thakur has been elected for the post of secretary.
Mr Awana polled 17,879 votes against 16,346 votes for Vishal Chaudhary of the NSUI for the post of president. Mr Chaudhary, a student of PGDAV College, polled 14,968 votes, defeating the NSUI’s Kapil Sharma by 3,691 votes. Mr Rawat got 15,643 votes, beating the NSUI’s Kushan Khari by 3,288 votes. Ms Thakur received 14,662 votes, defeating her ABVP rival Anshu Lakra by 2,718 votes.
Mr Awana, after winning the election, said the Dusu polls result is the beginning of change in the Indian government and Gujarat chief minister Narender Modi has been the inspiration for the youth of the university. “The victory in the Dusu election shows the choice of students. The youth are wholeheartedly behind Mr Modi, who has always been our idol,” he said.