AISA activists Ananya Raturi and Akshat Shikhar have filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on 2nd September challenging a new affidavit released by the DUSU Election Committee. Apparently, now to contest in DUSU election, adult students need parental consent forms.
Two affidavits, one signed by the student and another by the parent are to be submitted to the Chief Election Officer declaring that the parent knows and approves and further takes responsibility for the lawful conduct of their ward in the election. This raises certain very serious concerns. Can parental authority be applied to all adult students so arbitrarily? Students who come to the University are autonomous adults who, if they so choose, can contest for office without the need of any consent from any authority whatsoever. The affidavit also very ignorantly assumes that it is only the parents who sponsor education for students. Thousands of students of the University sustain themselves in the harsh realities of Delhi. If one such student decides to raise their voice and contest, this affidavit stands in direct contradiction to their experience and position. No common women students in DUSU, then? It is absolutely shameful that the election committee does not realise that women activists who choose to raise their voice democratically also have to struggle at homes for their autonomy and their rights. This affidavit closed the door for any woman student who does not come from a background of political power.
Who does DUSU belong to? The notice also reeks of a bias towards who can and cannot contest for office in a University like DU. Parental consent along with the 1 lakh bond shows us that the administration also imagines the election as a game of muscle between ABVP and NSUI landlord candidates who can use insurmountable resources and generational wealth at their dispense. These new rules that come up every year after the Manchanda case only push DUSU to be more and more arbitrary and undemocratic rather than a real amalgam of students’ aspirations. Last year AISA challenged and won the case against the bond of ₹1 lakh, which court directed to be submitted as an indemnity affidavit after appeal. This year too, Delhi University’s apathetic attitude towards campus democracy has threatened the nature of the election itself. We have filed the petition on the morning of 2nd September and the matter will be listed on urgent basis. Stop policing campus democracy! Make DUSU a platform for common students’ aspirations!
