Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Saturday (September 19, 2026) bagged three Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) central panel posts, while an independent candidate, earlier associated with National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) won the Vice-Presidential post.
Like last year, ABVP won the posts of President, Secretary and Joint Secretary. However, this year saw a neck-and-neck battle with NSUI trailing in two posts. ABVPs total winning margin came down from 23,873 last year to 9,671 this year. The voter turnout increased from 39.5% last year to 40.46% this year.
This year’s student elections come against the backdrop of Jantar Mantar protests which saw participation from DU students. The polls also come in the wake of the Satya Niketan tragedy which has led to student protests for better accommodation facilities.
ABVPs Presidential candidate Yash Dabbas received 24,576 votes while NSUI’s Vijay Shankar Meena trailed with 22,523 votes.
The Vice-Presidential post was won by Deepanshu Shokeen, an independent candidate. Securing 30,615 votes, he won by the largest margin among the four winners. Ishu Maurya from ABVP trailed with 16,901 votes.
ABVPs Riya Chhawdi won the Secretary post with 21,650 votes, beating NSUIs Namrata Chaudhary who finished with 14,869 votes. In the Joint Secretary post, Lakshay Raj Singh from ABVP won with a slim margin of 813 votes. Vishesh Yadav from Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha (SCS) came in second, while NSUI came in third.
Yash Dabas said, “Delhi University’s Gen-Z has given a clear message that it believes in social harmony and nationalism. I will work to transform this trust into responsibility and ensure that the voice of every student is represented strongly through the students’ union.”
The organisation will focus on student safety, better facilities, equal opportunities and a positive academic environment, said Riya Chhawdi who won the Secretary post. “We will work to ensure that the concerns of students, particularly women students, receive due attention,” she said.
BJP congratulates ABVP
BJP National President Nitin Nabin, on Saturday (September 19), extended his wishes to the ABVPs victory. He said, “Congratulations to all my young friends at Delhi University on ABVP’s historic victory in the DUSU elections! This victory reflects the youth’s continued faith in positive and constructive student politics, rooted in the spirit of Nation First, and their strong resolve to contribute to the vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat’.”
Reduced margins
Last year, the Presidential candidate from the ABVP had won with a margin of 16,196 votes whereas this year it was 2,053. Similarly the Joint Secretary post was won by ABVP last year with a margin of 4,445 votes, as opposed to 837 votes this year. The margin for the post of Secretary went up this year to 6,781 from 3,234 last year.
AAPs student body Association of Students for Alternative Politics fielded a visually-impaired candidate for the first time in DUSU elections for the post of Secretary. The candidate, Pankaj Kumar Dhingra, received 7,639 votes.
Left and ASAP
While the joint left panel with All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India had hoped to challenge the ABVP-NSUI binary, their performance was similar to previous years.
While some students on Friday did point out that the organisations were active during Jantar Mantar, this did not drastically change their vote share from previous years. The Presidential candidate Ananya Raturi got 5377 votes, coming in third. They came in third in the post of Secretary too, garnering 8,734 votes.
Like last year, many students also opted for the NOTA button. 4,310 students pressed NOTA for President, 4,359 for Vice President, 7,884 for Secretary and 7,389 for Joint Secretary.
Published – September 19, 2026 11:12 am IST
