Left and Alternative Student Outfits Seek to Challenge ABVP-NSUI Grip in DUSU
Left-backed and independent student organisations at Delhi University are aiming to translate momentum from recent protests into electoral gains in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections, seeking to challenge the long-standing dominance of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the National Students’ Union of India.
Outfits including the All India Students’ Association, Students’ Federation of India, and the Aam Aadmi Party’s newly relaunched student wing, ASAP, are attempting to build on student mobilisations held at Jantar Mantar during June and July. Those demonstrations focused on examination reforms, paper leaks, admissions, and institutional accountability.
For years, DUSU central panel contests have remained largely a two-way fight between the RSS-affiliated ABVP and the Congress-backed NSUI. In 2025, the ABVP won three of the four central panel posts, while the NSUI secured the vice president seat. In 2024, the two groups split the panel 2-2, following an ABVP sweep of three posts in 2023.
Vote shares have historically favoured the two dominant organisations. In 2025, ABVP candidates secured 39.7% of votes across the four central panel contests, while NSUI captured 31.5%. By comparison, the AISA-SFI alliance received 11.5% of the vote in 2025 and 10.8% in 2024.
Student groups now report growing engagement following the summer protests. AISA activist Ananya stated that the outfit added 6,000 new members in the first three weeks after the university reopened. SFI Delhi secretary Sooraj Elamon said the group will carry issues of examination reform, affordability, and administrative accountability into the campaign.
ASAP is also preparing for its first electoral test under its new name, replacing the earlier Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, which contested DUSU elections only in 2015 and 2018 without securing a central panel seat. ASAP vice president Kamal Tiwari said students are focusing on which organisations actively supported recent youth campaigns.
However, independent groups note broader structural limitations in DUSU representation. Bhim Kumar, a Delhi state committee member of the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, highlighted that more than two lakh School of Open Learning students remain excluded from DUSU voting rights. Turnout across the university's regular student body has also remained below 45% in recent elections, recording 39.4% in 2025 and 35% in 2024.
