NSUI ticketing under spotlight as rebels shine in DUSU polls

NSUI's official candidates failed to secure any central posts in the DUSU elections, while rebel candidates achieved significant success.

Independent Deepanshu Shokeen, denied an NSUI ticket, won the DUSU vice-president post by a large margin.

The article highlights a pattern of internal dissent and rebel victories in student elections across various universities, including Panjab University and DUSU, under Kanhaiya Kumar's leadership.

Allegations of an ego clash and strategic decisions regarding candidate selection have emerged, impacting NSUI's electoral performance.

Despite these challenges, NSUI has also seen recent successes in other university elections, indicating a mixed record.

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI)'s failure to win any of the four central posts in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections has again put the spotlight on ticket distribution in the Congress's student wing, with one of its rebels winning by a landslide and another putting up a strong challenge.

Independent Deepanshu Shokeen, who had sought an NSUI ticket and was initially nominated by the organisation but was later asked to withdraw his nomination, won the vice-president's post with 30,615 votes, nearly twice the 16,910 secured by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)'s Ishu Maurya.

NSUI's official candidate Veer Chatrath -- the son of senior Congress leader Manish Chatrath -- finished a distant third with 4,313 votes.

Vishesh Yadav, another NSUI ticket aspirant who was initially told he had been given the joint secretary's ticket before it was withdrawn, eventually contested the post with the backing of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and finished second with 15,778 votes, behind the ABVP's Lakshay Raj Singh who polled 16,615 votes.

The NSUI's Gopal Chaudhary bagged 15,206 votes for this post.

Internal Conflicts Over Candidate Selection

Sources close to Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar, however, rejected suggestions that an ego clash with Shokeen led to him being denied a ticket.

They claimed NSUI had offered Shokeen the presidential nomination but he insisted on contesting for vice-president.

The sources alleged that Shokeen, a Jat, was reluctant to take on ABVP presidential candidate Yash Dabas, who is also from the community, and claimed there was an understanding between the two.

NSUI, they said, was unwilling to concede the presidential contest and instead fielded Vijay Shankar Meena, a tribal candidate.

Kumar was appointed the All India Congress Committee in-charge of NSUI in July 2023.

A Pattern of Rebellion Across Universities

This is not the first time during his tenure that a disgruntled aspirant has defeated or significantly outperformed NSUI's official nominee.

At Panjab University in 2024, NSUI rebel Anurag Dalal contested for president as an Independent after a row over ticket distribution and won with 3,433 votes.

NSUI's official candidate Rahul Nain managed just 501 votes and finished sixth.

The rebellion was preceded by the resignation of Chandigarh NSUI president Sikander Boora, who backed Dalal and accused the leadership of imposing decisions on the local unit.

He was subsequently suspended by the organisation. Panjab University saw another revolt a year later, when Kumar himself was blamed by a section of NSUI for the choice of candidate.

The local unit and then NSUI national president Varun Chaudhary wanted Sumit Kumar as the presidential candidate, but Kanhaiya Kumar backed Parabjot Singh Gill instead.

Sumit contested outside the NSUI fold and finished second with 2,660 votes.

The official NSUI candidate polled only 1,359, while ABVP's Gaurav Veer Sohal won with 3,148 votes.

The episode also sharpened differences between Kumar and Chaudhary within the organisation.

DUSU saw a rebellion last year as well, when former NSUI leader Umanshi Lamba contested for president as an Independent after being denied the ticket and polled 5,522 votes.

Her candidature, however, was not decisive.

ABVP's Aryan Maan won with 28,841 votes against NSUI candidate Joslyn Choudhary's 12,645 -- a gap far larger than Lamba's tally.

NSUI's Mixed Electoral Record Under Kanhaiya Kumar

There is an irony too. NSUI's current national president Vinod Jakhar had himself rebelled after being denied the organisation's ticket for the Rajasthan University Students' Union president's post in 2018.

Jakhar contested as an Independent and won.

He later returned to the NSUI, headed its Rajasthan unit and was appointed national president in February this year.

The rebellions have come amid a mixed electoral record for NSUI since Kumar took charge.

One of his earliest interventions brought success. Kumar travelled to Chandigarh ahead of the 2023 Panjab University polls, where Jatinder Singh, previously associated with the ABVP, joined NSUI in his presence days before polling and was fielded for president.

Singh won with 3,002 votes, giving NSUI the Panjab University presidency.

NSUI followed it with a major victory in Delhi University in 2024, when Ronak Khatri won the DUSU presidency with 20,207 votes, ending the organisation's seven-year wait for the post.

It also won joint secretary. Earlier this year, Shantanu Shekhar secured the presidency for NSUI at Patna University Students' Union, while Khushi Kumari won general secretary.

More recently, NSUI swept the student union polls at the BGR Campus in Pauri of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal Central University, winning the posts of president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer, besides three executive posts.