DUSU election: Polling was held on Wednesday at 52 centres amid heavy police presence
The counting of votes for student body election in Delhi University has resumed after it was stopped midway today after some electronic voting machines or EVMs stopped working, a polling officer said. Students from the Congress affiliated NSUI and the BJP-backed ABVP broke into a fight at a counting centre in north Delhi's Model Town after the EVMs malfunctioned. Eyewitnesses said glasses were broken during the scuffle.
Counting for votes were stopped at 1.30 pm over faulty voting machines. It resumed shortly after 6pm.
When the EVMs first started giving trouble, the election officials reasoned with the student factions to give some time to repair or replace them, an election officer told news agency Press Trust of India.
"We had proposed rectification of the faulty EVMs and resumption of the counting but the students were not ready for it. It was decided to suspend counting. A fresh date for the counting will be announced soon," the officer for the Delhi University Students' Union or DUSU election said.
Initial trends showed the National Students Union of India was leading for the DUSU president's post, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad inching closer to take the vice president's post.
The DUSU election was held on Wednesday at 52 polling centres amid heavy police presence; it registered a turnout of 44.46 per cent. Twenty-three students are eyeing for the top posts in the DUSU.
The Congress-backed NSUI has said it would work to ensure Delhi University gets the "Institute of Eminence" tag, apart from making pocket-friendly meals available at Rs 10. The ABVP has promised to spend 50 per cent of the DUSU budget on women and social justice-related activities, along with special attention to promoting sports and installing sanitary pad vending machines on campuses.
The Aam Aadmi Party's student wing has promised to ensure CCTV cameras are installed on campuses and to end the "culture of hooliganism".