New Delhi: Delhi University administration and police officials on Monday reviewed the recently concluded students’ union polls, highlighting experiences and lessons learned for future elections.

Unlike previous years, when the walls of North Campus were covered in posters and graffiti, there has been a visible change during this year’s elections. The university administration, enforcing the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines strictly, has kept the campus free of defacement.

The review meeting was chaired by Vice Chancellor Professor Yogesh Singh, who congratulated the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) Election Committee and police for the smooth conduct of the elections, an official statement said.

“We learned a lot from the experiences of the previous DUSU elections, and this year’s experiences will be useful in the successful conduct of upcoming elections,” Singh said, inviting police officers to share their insights and suggestions.

During the meeting, DUSU Chief Election Officer Professor Raj Kishore Sharma presented election statistics, noting a four per cent increase in voter turnout compared to last year, with Miranda House recording more than 60 per cent participation.

He also noted a rise in None of the Above (NOTA) votes. DUSU Presiding Officer Professor Rajesh Singh described the “Green and Clean Elections” campaign as largely successful.

Delhi Police officials shared their experiences in managing the elections, with Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Northwest) Bhisham Singh pointing that the coordination between university administration and police officials ensured a smooth process.

DCP (North) Raja Banthia’s innovative methods and the expanded “Walls of Democracy” helped prevent conflicts. Several officers were honoured for their cooperation during the polls.

The vice chancellor confirmed that the suggestions shared by police officers and university officials will be implemented to further improve the conduct of future elections.

Senior officials of Delhi University, including Dean of Colleges Professor Balram Pani, Director of South Campus Professor Rajni Abbi, Registrar Vikas Gupta, Cultural Council Chairperson Anoop Lather, and Proctor Professor Manoj Kumar were also present during the meeting.

The Delhi High Court has expressed displeasure over the use of luxury cars in the polls,

Although the polls this year were held under strict measures against defacement of public property and in line with the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines, last week, the Delhi High Court expressed displeasure over the use of luxury cars like Bentley, Rolls Royce and Ferrari, and even JCBs, for campaigning in the student body elections. In 2024, counting was withheld by the Delhi High Court until such defacement was cleared.

The high court noted the candidates and organisers had not learnt any lesson from the previous year’s judicial order that withheld poll results owing to nuisance and defacement of public property.

“What can be worse than such kind of campaigns in students union elections. The use of JCBs, big and luxury cars, four wheelers, this is unknown. From where do they get such big cars — Bentley, Rolls Royce and Ferraris? How are the students getting this? We haven’t even heard of these cars,” a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said.