BY SANJEEB KUMAR SAHOO
It’s not simply that Delhi NSUI lost the DUSU polls; I believe it is also a personal loss for Rahul Gandhi, as he is currently leading the Chhatron Ki Gunj initiative. When he is leading Chhatron Ki Gunj across the nation, and the initiative focuses on amplifying the voices of India’s youth and Gen-Z, specifically targeting core challenges within the country’s education and recruitment sectors, how could he not be involved in decisions regarding the selection of candidates for the DUSU polls—particularly when many Congress leaders and members appear to be working for themselves rather than for the benefit of the party and its cadres?
Most importantly, this happened at a time when National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) was expected to win all four posts, as many students were and are unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Narendra Modi government.
However, although NSUI contested the DUSU polls as the student wing of the Congress party, the Delhi unit of NSUI appears to have been caught up in internal groupism among different factions of Congress politicians.
As I said earlier, I am saying it again: there appear to be around 10 groups within the Congress party at its national headquarters, with several leaders close to Rahul Gandhi effectively running their own political groups within the Congress party.
Therefore, NSUI lost all four posts in the DUSU polls, the results of which were announced minutes ago. In my view, the defeat was influenced by factionalism within the Congress party and an obsession with political dynasties.
Despite knowing that he was unlikely to win, many Congress leaders and members involved in the selection process reportedly chose Vir Chatrath, the son of Manish Chatrath, as the DUSU vice-presidential candidate. Manish Chatrath is in charge of the Congress party’s newly built headquarters, Indira Bhavan. Vir Chatrath ultimately lost the vice-presidential post by a significant margin.
I strongly believe that groupism and dynastic politics among some Congress leaders and members are weakening the Congress party and damaging Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Gunj initiative.
Interestingly, a Congress-supported independent candidate won the DUSU vice-presidential post. However, Congress politicians supported two independent candidates in the DUSU polls.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student organisation associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won three of the four central posts in the 2026 Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections: Yash Dabas won the presidency, Riya Chhawdi won the secretary post, and Lakshya Raj Singh won the joint-secretary post.
In the meantime, many people from Delhi who follow politics closely, as well as students from Delhi University, are saying that if Deepanshu Shokeen—who is associated with NSUI and contested as an independent candidate with the support of a senior Congress leader from Haryana—had been given the NSUI ticket, NSUI could have won all four posts.
Deepanshu Shokeen won as an independent candidate and received the highest number of votes among all the winning candidates, including those who won the other three posts on ABVP tickets.
Now, I would like to end by saying that Rahul Gandhi should take action against the party leaders who were involved in what I believe was the wrong distribution of tickets, in order to send a strong message to Congress politicians who are involved in groupism and are leading different factions within the Congress party.
Now, the ball is in Rahul Gandhi’s court. If he chooses to remain silent, as he has often done in similar situations, I believe it could send the wrong message. He should consider taking strong action against those responsible and send a strong message to the party leadership, Congress cadres, and young people who want to join the Congress through NSUI.
And trust me, I don’t know about Congress leaders whose only intentions are to earn money and promote their children in politics, but I know many students, Congress cadres, and Congress supporters who are upset after seeing NSUI’s defeat in today’s, I mean September 19, DUSU elections.
DUSU Election Final Results
President — Winner: ABVP
ABVP: 24,576
NSUI: 22,523
LEFT: 5,377
ASAP: 1,388
Vice-President — Winner: Independent
Independent: 30,615
ABVP: 16,910
NSUI: 4,313
LEFT: 2,383
Independent: 2,274
Secretary — Winner: ABVP
ABVP: 21,650
NSUI: 14,869
LEFT: 8,734
ASAP: 7,639
Joint-Secretary — Winner: ABVP
ABVP: 16,615
SCS: 15,778
NSUI: 15,206
LEFT: 5,837
