New Delhi: From the recent student mobilisation at Jantar Mantar to demands over admissions, metro concessions and access to education, issues that have fuelled Delhi’s campus protests are set to find their way into the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) election campaign, with student organisations gearing up for the September 18 polls.
The university on Thursday, August 13, announced that DUSU elections for the 2026-27 academic session will be held on September 18, with counting scheduled for the next day. The last date for filing nominations is September 10.
The announcement has given student groups a formal timeline to turn their recent campus mobilisation into election campaigns, with organisations expected to intensify outreach across colleges in the coming weeks.
The recent protests at Jantar Mantar, which centred on issues concerning the National Testing Agency (NTA), admissions and access to education, have provided a backdrop to the election preparations.
Student groups say a new generation of students, often described as Gen Z, is increasingly raising concerns that go beyond traditional campus politics, including affordability, employment, access to higher education, examination systems and everyday mobility.
Anjali, DU secretary of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), had said the recent Jantar Mantar mobilisation could provide the basis for a broader alliance among Left student organisations.
“There is a common enemy, as we have seen in the recent Jantar Mantar protests. We are hoping that there will be a Left alliance between AISA and SFI like last year, so that we can carry forward the values of the recent student protests,” she had said.
AISA’s broader demands include the rollback of the National Education Policy and disbanding of the NTA, while its leaders have indicated that the DUSU campaign would focus more closely on issues raised by DU students.
For the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), admission-related concerns, availability of seats and courses, and recurring demands such as metro concessions are likely to feature prominently.
A DU activist associated with the NSUI said there had been “chaos” over seats, courses and other issues and that the recent protests and hunger strike had demonstrated students’ ability to mobilise around their demands.
“These are recurring issues and will definitely be taken up. However, at this stage, potential candidates are scouting colleges and meeting students to understand what the most important issues are,” the activist said.
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is also assessing issues at the college level before finalising its campaign strategy, with its focus expected to remain on issues affecting students’ everyday academic and campus life.
The September 18 polls will be the first major test of the student organisations’ strength after the recent round of protests and mobilisation, and it will also determine whether issues that have dominated the recent protests can translate into electoral support on campus.
The nomination process will begin on September 10, when candidates can submit their papers along with a Rs 500 demand draft and affidavits till 3 pm. Scrutiny will be held at 3:15 pm, followed by publication of the list of duly nominated candidates by 6 pm.
Candidates can withdraw their nominations till noon on September 11, with the final list scheduled to be published by 5 pm.
Voting for day classes will be held from 8:30 am to 1 pm and for evening classes from 3 pm to 7:30 pm.
In the 2025 elections, ABVP had won three of the four central panel posts, including the president’s post, while NSUI secured the vice-president’s position. The SFI-AISA alliance failed to win a central panel post.
With the dates now declared, student organisations are expected to move from issue-mapping and candidate scouting to full-fledged campaigning, with the concerns of a younger student electorate likely to shape the narrative of the 2026 DUSU contest.
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