DUSU polls: NSUI’s presidential candidate Rocky Tuseed’s name missing in final list
Delhi University’s CEO had released a list of six candidates in the running for the post of the president, including the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s Rajat Choudhary and All India Students Association (AISA)’s Parul Chauhan. NSUI’s Rocky Tuseed, however, did not appear in the list.
When the Delhi University’s Chief Election Officer’s (CEO) office released their list of candidates after withdrawals on Wednesday, the National Students Union of India (NSUI) was in for a rude shock, as their presidential candidate had not made it to the list.
The CEO had released a list of six candidates in the running for the post of the president, including the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s Rajat Choudhary and All India Students Association (AISA)’s Parul Chauhan. NSUI’s Rocky Tuseed, however, did not appear in the list.
“We have been told it was some disciplinary action based on something minor that had happened during his time at Shivaji College. But he had never been suspended, and the same college had issued him a good moral conduct certificate too,” said Ruchi Gupta, the national in-charge of NSUI.
The NSUI has now allegedly submitted a complaint to the office of the chief election officer claiming that Rocky Tuseed’s candidature must be accepted, as he had contested elections in the previous years.
“In fact this arbitrariness has happened with the same candidate when the Election Commission of DU cleared this candidate to contest his Dept election (also under DUSU) last year. Candidate was president of Dept of Buddhist Studies, DU. EC as an institution cannot apply differential standards year on year,” reads the letter.
The principal of Shivaji college, however, denied that they had issued a good conduct certificate to him, while also refusing to comment on the actual details of the incident.
“There was an incident of indiscipline in 2014, and we had not allowed Rocky Tuseed to even enter the college premises after that. He was only allowed to appear for the exams, as we did not want to spoil his future. He did not come to the college the entire year,” said Shashi Nijhawan, the principal of the college.
The Chief returning officer, Rajeev Gupta, refused to comment on the matter, and the chief election officer, SB Babbar did not respond to HT’s multiple attempts to contact him.
The other panellists of Congress backed NSUI, including , Kunal Sehrawat, Minakshi Meena, and Avinash Yadav of Law faculty for vice president, secretary and joint secretary respectively have made it to the list. However, if Tuseed’s candidature is not accepted it might hurt the student outfit which has only won two seats since 2014, and had hoped to rewrite history this year.
Alka, of shaheed Bhagat singh College (evening), had also appeared in the NSUI’s initial list of candidates and has been allotted a ballot number. However, Gupta maintained that Tuseed would be NSUI’s candidate.
“The question of Alka does even arise right now. NSUI’s presidential candidate will be Rocky Tuseed,” she said.
The RSS-backed ABVP hope to continue their winning streak with Parth Rana of Buddhist Studies department for vice president, Mahamedha Nagar of the law faculty for secretary, and Umashanker also from Moti Lal Nehru College for joint secretary.
The left wing All India Students Association (AISA) had already finalised its panel by Monday, with Satyawati College (Evening) student Parul Chauhan for the post of president, Aditya Baibhav of the department of Buddhist Studies for the post of Vice President, Jaishree of Kirorimal College for the post of secretary and Akash Gupta of the law faculty for the post of Joint Secretary.
Wednesday was the last date for withdrawals of nominations for the Delhi Students Union elections, and there are now five candidates each in the running for the post of vice president and secretary and four candidates for the post of Joint secretary.
