The Delhi High Court will hear Ruby Malik's petition today.
She's all of 20, and she's proving to be someone political parties in Delhi cannot ignore. Ruby Malik, a third-year law student, has gone to court alleging that for elections at Delhi University, parties are crossing all sorts of lines.
Delhi University's students union has spring-boarded several important political careers. The election for this year are to be held in four days. For the first time, the Aam Aadmi Party is part of the contest- its youth wing the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) will take on the BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP and the Congress' National Students Union of India (NSUI).
"All you have to do is to see the huge hoardings around campus of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and you know the amount that they are spending," said Ms Malik on NDTV's show '
Agenda'. She claims she has no connection with any political party or interest in a political career. Her sole motive, she says, is ensuring that everyone has a level playing field, and that election guidelines are followed.
Rules endorsed by the Supreme Court say that a candidate for a college election mustn't spend more than Rs 5,000 and that public property cannot be used to display publicity and slogans. Vehicle rallies are banned along with printed posters - only handmade ones are permissible.
A trip to any campus shows how all these guidelines are being blatantly ignored. "The expenditure can be anything upto lakhs," said one person distributing printed pamphlets at Bhagat Singh College, "Last year, they offered movie tickets to voters and trips to Fun Food Village (an amusement park)-all of that costs a lot of money," he said.
When NDTV contacted the Delhi Police, a spokesperson confirmed that all parties are guilty. "They are buying ad spaces at bus stands to promote the theory that they are getting 46% votes," said the police officer of AAP's role, adding, "Even ABVP and NSUI are defacing property."