JOIN USIt sounds like a joke, and a bizarre one at that, but Delhi University (DU) students have actually voted for Bollywood actress, model and VJ Nauheed Cyrusi in the recently concluded elections! At least the posters of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate Kanika Shekhawat said so.
Thousands of Delhi University students who voted for the ABVP candidate in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections received a jolt when they realised that the candidate they ‘voted’ for and the one who ‘came to power’ aren’t the same!
In the run-up to the elections, these posters carrying Shekhawat’s name urging students to vote for her were pasted across the city on flyovers, subways and Metro pillars. A graduate in political science from Miranda College, Shekhawat is studying MA in Political Science in ARSD college, South Campus. Shekhawat, who comes from Rajasthan, has been with the ABVP for the past three years, and won the election by stressing on women-centric issues within the university.
Metrolife spoke to Rohit Chahal, spokesperson of ABVP and he denied the charges. “We don’t indulge in such dirty politics. This was done by the National Student Union of India (NSUI) so that the nomination of our candidate gets cancelled. Yeh unki gandi chaal hai. But, the students have given their verdict and they have lost all seats. We have struggled a lot and it finally paid off too. We have also filled a written complaint against the party at the Police Headquarters (PHQ). They should understand that such tricks would not help them win elections as the students are not fools.”
Playing the blame game, Amrish Pandey of NSUI, said, “It is not the culture of our party to unnecessarily target candidates. ABVP has indulged in all kinds of malpractices in the elections and they should own up if their wrongdoing has been noted. During the elections, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA also tried to offer free tickets of the Bollywood film Mary Kom by just showing their respective identity cards. However, the ABVP clarified that offering free movie tickets has nothing to do with votes, but they are promoting sports in the campus through this film. This is for the first time that we saw something like this...this has never happened before and we are also planning to take this to the higher authorities of DU.”
As the clash between these parties continue, the students are miffed at being taken for a ride.
Gaurav Mandal*, a Ist year student of Political Science (H), said, “Every year these people distribute pamphlets and posters among the students. And we all know that these posters are highly photoshopped. But, what happened this year was totally bizzare and just unacceptable. They fooled all of us by showing a wrong candidate and won the seat by unethical means. This is just the beginning. I don’t know what they (ABVP) will do in the years to come.”