Delhi University goes to polls on September 9, with more than 5 student bodies contesting the elections.
Better college infrastructure, women's safety and a cap on rent for students living in private hostels are some of the issues that are likely to dominate students' union polls in Delhi University this year, feel students who will cast their vote on September 9.
If this list of issues looks vaguely familiar, you are not alone.
"Every year candidates make the same promises but nothing really changes," said Vikas Jaglan a student at the university's Campus Law Centre.
But candidates of various student bodies contesting elections this year deny the charge. They insist things have changed, and new issues dominate the general discourse in the university.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or the ABVP explains it will be fighting the elections on the "issue of 'Nation First' this time." Its manifesto goes on to claim that it will "bring the real face of anti-national forces out in front of the student community."
The agenda of its principal rival, the National Students Union of India or the NSUI however remains focused on students' issues. Its manifesto is likely to list women's safety, rent control for students and discrimination against students from the north-east as its priorities. The NSUI is the student wing of the Congress party.
The Aam Aadmi Party's student body - the Chatra Yuvak Sangharsh Samiti - won't be contesting elections this year. Its secretary Anmol Panwar, speaking to NDTV, said that the decision to boycott the elections was a protest against the "use of muscle power and money" by their rivals.
The decision of the Sangharsh Samiti to sit the elections out may have to do more with political realities than principles, feel its rivals.
"They (Chatra Yuvak Sangharsh Samiti) don't have any standing in individual colleges to realistically contest these elections," said NSUI's Nikhil Yadav.
University students complain candidates don't focus on their issues.
"The problem is not only high rent or lack of accommodation, but college infrastructure also matters. Only last week the roof of a prominent campus college had collapsed and several students were injured in the incident," said Aishwarya Unnikrishnan, a student of Miranda college.
Candidates from three other student bodies- Indian National Students Organisation, Students Federation of India and the All India Students Association- will also be contesting the elections.