Student Clubs and Election at the College level of Delhi University | V.K.Sridhar Sudeep Pandey, Hardik Dadheech

Abstract

Student politics has evolved and entered a new phase as a result of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in 2022, with substantial consequences in recent years. In recent years, student elections at the college level have been controlled by numerous clubs, including Happy Club, Ignite, Team BOSS, Iconic Club which actively influence the political environment. These elections putforth a network among these clubs, with certain candidates from their panels elected and others are sacrificed. These clubs prefer to target first year students and are active right from the admission and are very clear of contesting elections while actively raising college issues and focus more on networking with the students than the second and third year students, influencing their votes using means such as posters, freshers helpdesk, WhatsApp groups, Instagram. This paper examines the interplay of clubs at Motilal Nehru College based on conversation with students and candidates, while refraining from naming indiviudals, to show that these clubs serve as a reassertion of regional identity, which helps them garner electoral support.

Introduction

The Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election is seen as the most high-profile student union election in the country, offering a gateway into both local and national politics. Over time, DUSU elections have become a bipolar contest primarily between the two dominant student bodies, the National Students Union of India of Congress (NSUI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidiyarathi Parishad (ABVP), thanks to the significant capitalist resources and well-established means for mobilizing students. This contest is also marked by caste allegiances and lavish spending on posters and pamphlets that flood the campus. Out of 77 Delhi University colleges, 52 are affiliated with DUSU, as it is optional for institutions to participate in the election process. As a result, DUSU does not represent the entire student community of the university, as prominent North Campus Colleges- such as St.Stephen’s College, Indraprastha College for Women, Daulat Ram College- and many South Campus women colleges like Jesus and Mary College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Maitreyi College, do not affiliated with DUSU elections.

The Lyndogh Committee Recommendations (LCR) suggest that student elections and student representation should be disassociated from political parties. However, this has largely been ignored, as most student leaders and representatives come from political parties. In 2009, the election committee set up by the university took strong action by disqualifying ABVP and NSUI candidates for violating election norms. But since then, the DU administration has struggled to enforce the recommendations, as even the threat of punishment or disqualification has failed to deter candidates. Many students argue that Delhi University’s large geographical spread makes it difficult to campaign within the Rs 5,000 limit prescribed by the LCR, as this amount is insufficient to cover the costs of campaigning across numerous campuses spread throughout the city. In 2016, the National Green Tribunal ordered Delhi University to conduct

elections in a more environmentally friendly manner, urging the university to reduce paper waste and to implement the Lyngodh Committees’ Recommendations. The tribunal decreed that “candidates can use two handmade posters, which can only be placed in spaces allotted by the university/colleges”. However, in the 2017 elections, candidates went as far as using hoardings featuring Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra to promote Priyanka Chhawari, who was elected vice-president. Different student organizations have argued that paperless campaigns are impractical, given the limited time candidates have to reach out to students (Sridhar, 2018).

DUSU elections face a variety of issues, including the frequent violation of the code of conduct, favouritism in the implementation of norms and the lack of provisions for debates among candidates. Administrative bodies often fail to address these concerns because they lack the genuine will to increase student participation in the election procedures. Violations are a recurring issue, with posters and campaign materials being plastered across the campus every year. Another criticism is the influence of outsiders on the university campuses, which fosters an environment of violence and intimidation, leading to the alienation of common students from the electoral process.

Defacement of Public Property

The elections for the Delhi University Student Union and College elections were held simultaneously on 27th September and while elections for DUSU were conducted using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), college elections for the posts of President, Vice President, and Secretary. The joint secretary and Central Councilor were through the ballot paper. The result was withheld as the counting of votes of DUSU and college elections was halted until all defacement materials, including posters, hoardings, and graffiti were removed and public property restored. A High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gadela noted that it was the administration’s failure to take remedial measures. On October 21 the court observed that the posters, banners, and graffiti had not been removed and refused to lift the stay on vote counting until the defacement was addressed.

The MCDs counsel requested a deposit of Rs 1 crore from Delhi Univeristy to cover cleaning expenses across 12 zones. The Court also instructed the candidates to submit individual affidavits along with photographs of the cleanup efforts they had undertaken. The High Court directed Delhi University to complete the counting of votes for the DUSU elections on or before November 26, provided that all areas defaced by candidates were cleaned and repainted (Singh, Vartika, 2024).

CUET and Student Politics

Student politics has been affected by the introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) by the National Testing Agency since 2022. (CUET) has introduced the entrance-based merit system, due to which, instead of the students choosing the college, the university assigns the college to the student. This leaves the student with no choice regarding their preferred college, which has had significant ramifications on the politics of the college in particular and university as a whole. This has resulted in the democratization of the base of the university by allowing students from across India to get into the university. The system has been designed so that the university accommodates students from the length and breadth of the country in a distributed manner, thus, not maintaining the hegemony of a particular caste or region. This has hurt the caste lines of the political groups, which has contributed to their weakening and, in some cases, even extinction from the political scene. However, the arrival of students from various backgrounds had called for the creation of new political organizations that could resonate with the needs and issues of the students. The erstwhile structures of clubs, which were based on strict caste lines, began to wither away due to the changed composition of the electoral audience.

While earlier, the major proportion of students were Jats, Gujjars and Yadavs, after the advent of CUET, it now encompasses students from Kashmir to Southern India and from Rajasthan to Assam. The assertion of these identities, with a sense of collectivism and belonging, has catered to the diversity of students. But, we see an emerging dominance of Purvanchal, which refers to the Gangetic plains of eastern India and students from the region of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Due to its huge voter base, they receive special attention from candidates representing clubs such as the Happy Club, Ignite Club, Team Independent and TEAM BOSS, which were once dominated by caste of Jats, Yadavs and Gujjars. While caste still plays a vital role, its gravity has been diluted by the advent of Purvanchal regionalism (Kumar, 2023).

College level elections

At the college level, the student elections were not mobilized by the student wings of the ABVP, NSUI, SFI, AISA and other parties as they have a centralized structure due to their affiliation with their respective national political parties or parent organizations. They are bound by the trajectories of their aforementioned party organizations. While NSUI and left are non-existent in the college, the ABVP is the most active student unit in the college. Their activity is manifested in their organization of various events at various occasions, on different occasions, ranging from Saraswati Puja to Vasant Panchami, and they have a strong ground unit, which contributes to their influence and support in DUSU elections. However, at the college level, ABVP does not contest elections with a defined panel for various posts. The reason for this can be attributed to the unit’s and organization’s allegiance to the DUSU elections. At the college level, there are too many candidates who want to contest from the ABVP panel, which causes difficulty for the party to decide on the candidate for the elections.

The changing political landscape called for a separate space for popular yet dissociated faces, which paved the way for the establishment of clubs as an alternative to student organizations based on region, caste etc. The reasons for the dissociation can be attributed to the composition of these units, where the central leadership decides the stakeholders and equations with these units. Clubs are apparently independent of these national-level political organizations, which allows them to function with comparative autonomy and less rigidity. They do not have ideological inclinations and their agenda is soley defined by the issues of the college. The funding of these clubs is often not associated with any specific political group, rather they derive their funding from the candidates of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections, provided on the condition of mutual campaigning and fostering support for the candidate in DUSU elections. The clubs within the college political landscape play a significant role in shaping student representation and discourse and provide students with alternative platforms that reflect specific regional, caste or ideological interests, allowing for a diverse range of voices to be heard. However, the degree of this influence varies from club to club depending on the influence of the club in the college and the share of monetary assistance provided by the candidate. In order to understand the functioning of these clubs, we briefly explain the trajectories of the clubs which are playing a significant role at the college level.
Club Politics

Happy Club was founded in 2008 to provide an alternative political voice at the college level. Initially founded at Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College (ARSD), it could not expand itself to other colleges until 2015. In the initial phase, it was dominated by the caste lines of the Jat supremacy. It provided a platform to Jat leaders to present themselves as viable political choices for student issues, with the sole objective of constesting elections. This club dominated elections at Motilal Nehru College from 2015 to 2019, but in this year there was no organized unit and spearhead representative for the club, which has caused significant detriment to its influence.

Ignite Club

Ignite Club was founded in 2011 as a third front against the domination of ABVP and NSUI. In the backdrop of ABVP and NSUI dominance, the Jat politics of Happy Club, Ignite surfaced with ideological flexibility and a taste of regionalism. However, it primarily entailed Jats from Haryana, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh. The objective of its establishment is somewhat obscure, as it claimed to have been founded on the principles of interpersonal friendships and brotherhood along caste lines. The Happy club had started accommodating Yadavs, which hurt the caste chauvinist elements of the club. These elements later separated and formed ignite club to maintain Jat exclusivity.

Team BOSS

Team BOSS (Bhagat Singh Organization of Sovereign Students) was formed in Motilal Nehru College in 2023, divorcing itself from the erstwhile Happy Club. It was founded on the underlying basis of cooperation and brotherhood along caste lines of Yadavs and it can be ostensibly viewed as a counterforce to the Ignite Club, differing only in the constituent caste lines. The support for the club has been a product of the personality cult of influential individuals from Haryana, more precisely from the Rewari belt of Haryana. The team BOSS club has also accommodated Purvanchal on the plank of lack of representation in the political spectrum from the region. Purvanchal acts as a civil society and its members are politically active, thus commensurating it with political representation based on the spirit of regional brotherhood and regionalism, has made them a numeric majority, leading to their inclusion in the clubs.

Election Outcome

Despite the expensive campaign and excessive use of paper material and vehicles in the election, voter turnout was lower at 35 per cent, compared to last year were 42 per cent last year. In Motilal Nehru College, out of the strength of 3600, 1,403 votes were polled, with students voting for the post of President, Vice President, Secretary and Joint Secretary and Central Councillor posts. The result shows that the post of President and Central councilor were won by the team BOSS, while Ignite Club won the post of Vice President, Secretary and the 2nd Central Councilor. The club politics also sheds light on the messy network of different clubs using different identities, such as Team BOSS attracting purvanchal students by organizing Litti-choka programmes at the Shiv Mandir of Satya Niketan, South Delhi.

Conclusion

In conclusion, clubs play a vital role in shaping student representation and discourse. Contrasted with centralized and ideological mandates, these clubs offer a localized and flexible approach to political engagement, providing students with alternate platforms that reflect specific regional, caste or ideological interests allowing for a diverse range of voices to be heard. These clubs are aligned with DUSU elections as they also require support from the college mobilizing full support at the DUSU level. The future of these student leaders after finishing college also points to their search for a ticket to contest elections, though it remains a long process within different political parties. While ABVP requires candidates to work for a long period and has a large number of people supporting at the ground level before offering a ticket, NSUI gives tickets to candidates who are popular but may not have voter support at the grassroots level. The office bearers of these clubs are outsiders belonging to a particular caste, control them from outside the college and actually play with the aspirational political “puppets” and their political masters who make the puppets dance, according to their will and wishes.

(Authors: V.K. Sridhar, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi, 110021. Email: vksridhar19[at]mail.com; Sudeep a student of BA(P) Vth Semester Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi 110021; Hardik Dadheech, a student of BA(P) IIIrd Semester, Motialal Nehru College, University of Delhi 110021)

References

Direction of the Honourable Supreme Court of India to frame Guidelines on Student’s Union Elections in Colleges/Universities, Submitted to Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi, 2006.

Kumar, Radhika et. al (2023): Opportunities, Optics and Identity: Vignettes from the Delhi University Students Union Elections, Mainstream, Vol. 61, No.48, November 25th.

Sridhar, V.K (2018): Student Mobilizations in the Delhi University Students Union Elections” The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol.LXXIX, No.4, October-December, pp. 1353-1359.

Singh Vartika (2024): DUSU elections come to an end amid concerns over low turnout and controversial campaigning tactics, The Print, 29th Septemeber, Retreieved on 10th Novemeber.