NSUI Draws Blank in DUSU Elections as Internal Rebellions Challenge Kanhaiya Kumar’s Leadership
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has failed to win a single post on the four-member Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) central panel. This marks the first time since 2015 that the Congress party's student wing has drawn a blank in the university’s top student body, raising questions about the organisation's performance under the leadership of Kanhaiya Kumar.
Kumar, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union president, was brought into the Congress from the Left to help the party rebuild its connection with young voters. After participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra alongside Rahul Gandhi, Kumar was appointed as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of the NSUI in July 2023. However, the latest DUSU election results indicate that this strategy has struggled to translate into electoral victories on the ground.
Independent Candidates Outperform Official Nominees
In the recent DUSU elections, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) secured the posts of president, secretary, and joint-secretary. The vice-president’s post was won by Independent candidate Deepanshu Shokeen, a former NSUI activist who decided to contest outside the organisation after a ticket dispute.
Shokeen secured the vice-president post with 30,615 votes, defeating ABVP’s Ishu Maurya, who polled 16,910 votes. Meanwhile, the official NSUI candidate, Vir Chatrath, finished a distant third with only 4,313 votes. Shokeen’s victory margin over the ABVP candidate was 13,705 votes, which is more than three times the total votes polled by the official NSUI nominee.
Shokeen had been active with the NSUI since 2023, campaigning for the student wing in both the 2023 and 2024 DUSU elections. After being denied his preferred ticket for the latest election, Shokeen claimed he was initially selected but later asked to withdraw. While Shokeen chose to run as an Independent, NSUI sources stated he left after refusing to contest for a different post. A PTI report, citing sources close to Kumar, indicated that Shokeen was offered the presidential ticket but insisted on running for vice-president.
Wider Ticket Disputes and Parallel Rebellions
The vice-presidential contest was not the only seat where the NSUI faced internal rebellion. Another aspirant, Vishesh Yadav, contested the joint-secretary election outside the NSUI fold. Yadav secured 15,778 votes, surpassing the official NSUI candidate, Gopal Choudhary, who received 15,206 votes.
These candidate selection disputes under Kumar’s tenure are not isolated to Delhi University. Similar challenges have emerged at Panjab University. In 2024, NSUI rebel Anurag Dalal contested the Panjab University presidential election as an Independent and won with 3,433 votes, while the official NSUI candidate, Rahul Nain, finished sixth with just 501 votes.
In another election at Panjab University, candidate Sumit Kumar contested outside the NSUI fold following a dispute over candidate selection. He polled 2,660 votes, outperforming the official NSUI candidate, Parabjot Singh Gill, who secured 1,359 votes. Although the rebel candidate did not win the seat—which went to ABVP’s Gaurav Veer Sohal with 3,148 votes—he still secured more votes than the official candidate selected under Kumar's leadership.
Disconnect Between Outreach and Ground Results
The DUSU election results were announced around the same time Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was attending the fifth edition of his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ initiative in Indore. The initiative is part of an ongoing effort by Gandhi to position himself as a leader trusted by the youth and to make students a central focus of the party's political outreach.
However, the outcome of the Delhi University elections highlights a gap between high-profile youth outreach campaigns and actual electoral performance, as Delhi University students chose to reject the official NSUI panel.
