ABVP vs NSUI showdown: DUSU vote counting begins amid tight race

New Delhi: Counting of votes for the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections began on Friday morning, officials said.

A 39.45 per cent turnout was recorded during the polling on Thursday. This year's turnout saw a small increase over last year's 39.45 per cent.

Polling was held in two shifts -- from 8.30 am to 1 pm for day classes and from 3 pm to 7.30 pm for evening classes.

The contest has largely been between the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI).

The NSUI has fielded Joslyn Nandita Choudhary, a postgraduate student of Buddhist Studies, and the ABVP has fielded Aryan Maan from the Department of Library Science for the president's post.

This year, there was a visible change in the campaigning for the DUSU polls. For the first time in years, the walls of the university's colleges and hostels remained free of posters and graffiti as the authorities strictly enforced anti-defacement rules under the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines.