Rallies, sit-ins and strikes, they all make a difference in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) machinery, but as the elections date inch closer, campaigns are more important than ever before.

The major focus for Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), All India Students’ Association (AISA) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) are the same as last year: rent control in private hostels, gender sensitization and women’s safety, as well as better hostel and college infrastructure.

Sunny Kumar of AISA said, “For AISA elections are different. Until last few years, we were more focused on campaigning for issues outside the election period. DUSU is not as powerful as it seems, as a lot of other bodies are involved when decisions are made. It is because of our extensive campaigning even after elections that helped on crucial issues such as FYUP rollback and important changes made in CBCS program.”

Responding to how the issues in the manifesto seemed similar, he said, “The issues such as room-rent control demand for HRA (House Rent Allowance) require long term effort. It is not merely DU, but University Grants Commission (UGC) and central government as well which have to come on board to allot funds. Thus instead of picking new issues every time, we have chosen to maintain a sustained campaign on problems that remain at the crux of university.”

A two-time winner, ABVP, has campaigned extensively online.  As per the new National Green Tribunal regulations, which insist on paper-less elections, ABVP has started Facebook pages to attract voters. Posts with candidate information – see here, and here for example – have spread on social media to ensure wider out-reach.  Public profiles have been created for the 10 shortlisted candidates to promote them amongst students.

Anoop Panwar, who is part of ABVP’s Delhi State Working Committee, said, “Our agenda this year is to turn this election from a tussle between parties to ‘National vs Anti-national’ battle. We had our biggest achievement with exposing the seditious activities of Jawaharlal Nehru University, which only happened because of ABVP’s consistent efforts. We have titled our this year’s campaign ‘Rashtriyawaad’ as we wish to make this election nationalist in every sense.” He also said that ABVP had decided to “dedicate this campaign to communities outside Jat and Gujjar” because they usually dominate DUSU elections.

National Students Union of India (NSUI) has taken an innovative step and released a separate manifesto for women in Delhi University (DU) titled ‘Priyadarshini’. The manifesto focuses on issues concerning women, such as availability of cheaper feminine hygiene products, better safety in college campuses and the presence of more female constables in university. It also features a ‘Big Sister’ program that plans to allot senior students as mentors to newcomers, to help them better adjust in campus. NSUI has not won the election since 2013 when the party introduced the FYUP program, much to the dismay of majority of students and staff of the university.

What’s interesting to note that year after year the basic issues in DUSU elections have remained the same:

• House Rent Allowance
• Metro and Bus passes
• Hostel Accomodation
• Increased security for women students
• Room rent control act in paying guest hostels
• Buses from all parts of Delhi to colleges