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DUSU polls test for parties’ popularity among youth, say students
Students who voted in the Delhi University Students Union DUSU polls on Wednesday said the results will help political parties gauge the mood of young voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
New Delhi: Students who voted in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls on Wednesday said the results will help political parties gauge the mood of young voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Prakhar Yadav, a second-year student of BA (Hons) in Hindi at Hansraj College, said the results of the DUSU polls will indicate which side the young voter is supporting and will help political parties prepare accordingly.
Prerna Bhardwaj, a second-year student of BA (Hons) in Political Science at Kirori Mal College, said, "The Delhi University has students coming from across India.
There can be no better way than this to know what the young India wants. In a way, the election results will be an indicator as to what the young voter of India wants."
Echoing similar sentiments, Vedansh, a first- year student of BA (Hons) in History at Ramjas College and a first-time voter said the election results will help know what the young educated voter wants.
Many students opined that even the parties in their manifestos had mentioned youth-centric issues that have stirred up debates at the national level.
This, they said, indicate that the parties are making strategies to woo young voters. "For instance, the NSUI manifesto had made a pitch for getting the 'Institute of Eminence' tag for the DU, while the ABVP for 'Bharat First' and taking up issues of SC, ST and OBC students.
The manifestos also have resonance with issues that are currently being debated and discussed at the national level," said Pooja, a student of Kirori Mal College.
Another student concurred with Pooja and said the "ABVP has been taking credit for getting the GST waived off on sanitary pads while the AISA-CYSS made a pitch for opposing commercialisation and privatisation" of education if voted to power.
A member of the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) said the DUSU elections are like the "semi-final for the Lok Sabha elections and will show what the young, educated voter wants".
A member of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad said the election results will help the public and the media in drawing a conclusion about the mood of the voters and also give an idea of what is the trend in the national politics.
In the fray are the NSUI, the ABVP, and the Aam Aadmi Party's students' wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) which is contesting the polls in alliance with the left-wing students' outfit All India Students Association (AISA).
After the AAP came to power in Delhi in February 2015, its students' wing had unsuccessfully contested the DUSU polls. The DUSU election results will be announced on Thursday.
