HC Gives Go-ahead to DU to Declare Presidential Poll Result

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has given a go-ahead to the Delhi University to declare the results for the post of President in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election which is being held on Tuesday.

The counting of votes is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday).

The High Court's order came on a plea by the University seeking modification of its September 8 interim order by which it had allowed National Students Union of India (NSUI) presidential candidate Rocky Tuseed to contest the election but directed the varsity not to declare the results for the post of the President.

The order came after the university contended that partial counting of votes would not be possible as the polls were being conducted through electronic voting machine (EVM) which consists of a single control unit.

The court however said the poll outcome will be subject to its final decision in the pending petition of Tuseed who has challenged the University Election Commission's order rejecting his nomination for the polls.

"The result for the post of the President be declared as per schedule. The outcome of the election result will be subject to the outcome of this main petition," Justice Indermeet Kaur said.

The high court had in an interim order on September 8 allowed Tuseed to contest the DUSU elections while setting aside the September 7 order of DU Chief Election Officer.

"The petitioner (Tuseed) is permitted to participate in the election of the DUSU for the post of President. He is also permitted to to campaign for the said post. The result of the election will, however, not be declared, it will be kept in a sealed cover. Subject to the final outcome of the writ petition, final result will be declared," it had then said.

During the day's hearing, the University's counsel sought modification of the court's order saying polling was done by electronic voting machine (EVM) comprising one control unit.

He said that partial counting was not possible in the machine and it will not be able to complete the counting and the election process.

The court noted that the plea was not opposed by Tuseed's counsel.

Tuseed, who has filed the petition through advocate Nikhil Bhalla and Harsh Bawa, challenged the decision to reject his nomination for the post of President.

The court had listed for September 28, his main petition challenging the rejection of his nomination on grounds of disciplinary action.

The high court had earlier posed searching questions to the DU for rejecting the nomination of the Congress-affiliate NSUI's presidential candidate.

It had asked the University how a warning given to a student by a college could be termed as disciplinary action taken against him.

"The petitioner says he was warned by Shivaji College and it was not a disciplinary action which this court is finding to be true. I don't understand how can it be a disciplinary action. By no stretch of imagination, it can be put as a disciplinary action," the judge had said.

The court had also said that DU was "stigmatising" the student by rejecting his nomination.

The petition was opposed by DU saying it was not maintainable and the university has been wrongly made a party.