New Delhi: National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) on Thursday demanded reforms in the Delhi University Students’ Union (Dusu) poll process in a bid to encourage greater participation by students and to ensure free and fair polls.
The students’ body said this while talking on witnessing a poor voters turnout (35 per cent) in Dusu polls in the past few years.
Submitting its recommendations on reforms in poll process to the Chief Election Commissioner of Dusu elections, the NSUI demanded that colleges should issue ID cards to those students eligible to vote at least one week prior to polling.
“In case, the ID cards are not issued to the students, government recognised ID such as voter cards, PAN cards, Aadhar should be accepted along with admission/fees slip,” it said.
To ensure free and fair elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has put in place a system of polling agents for all direct elections and the NSUI wants a similar system put in place with polling agents for every candidate contesting polls.
“A mock drill on all EVMs should be conducted to demonstrate that the machines are functioning properly. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines should be used in the Dusu polls and at least 5 per cent of polling of machine polling should be crosschecked to build confidence among voters,” the NSUI memorandum added.
Other demands include ushering in transparency in the counting process in front of the candidates/polling agent(s) among others
To increase voter turnout and reduce inconvenience to students who come from NCR and nearby cities, the NSUI has demanded the CEC to extend the voting timings i.e. the from 8am to 1pm and from 2pm to 7pm.
“Representatives of the EC should man decentralised control rooms for prompt redress of grievances from the date of notification till the elections. A provision should also be made for recounting/ repolling in the colleges where substantive allegations of unfair polling are made. Excessive police presence on campus on the polling day should be avoided as it intimidates student voters,” the memorandum added.
