The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has emerged as the dominant force in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections this year, clinching three of the four top positions. The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) managed to secure only the Vice President’s post.
ABVP’s Aryan Maan took charge as the new DUSU President with 28,841 votes, leaving NSUI’s Joslyn Chaudhary (12,645 votes) and the joint candidate of SFI-AISA (5,385 votes) far behind. An independent candidate who had broken away from NSUI also managed to gather 5,522 votes. For the Vice President’s post, however, NSUI turned the tables: Rahul Jhansla bagged 29,339 votes, defeating ABVP’s Govind Tanwar (20,547 votes).
The remaining two offices went back to ABVP. Kunal Chaudhary won as Secretary with 23,779 votes, while Deepika Jha triumphed as Joint Secretary with 21,825 votes. Their NSUI rivals trailed with 16,177 and 17,380 votes respectively. SFI-AISA finished third across the board.
Aryan Maan, the new President, comes from Bahadurgarh in Haryana. A Hansraj College graduate, he is currently pursuing a master’s in Library Science. He has been active in ABVP’s student campaigns, particularly protests over fee hikes and demands for better facilities. Outside politics, he is known to be a keen football player.
Maan’s campaign pitched a student-centric agenda, ranging from subsidised metro passes and campus-wide Wi-Fi to accessibility checks, enhanced sports infrastructure, and financial aid for research students. His message to the electorate was that ABVP would work to reimagine Delhi University as a globally competitive institution by strengthening both academic and student services.
