National Students’ Union of India supporters protest demanding 12 menstrual cycle leaves per semester for female students in Delhi University on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls will be held on September 18, DU Registrar Vikas Gupta announced in a notification on Wednesday.
As per the notification, the last date for submitting nomination papers is September 10. On the same day, the list of duly nominated candidates will be published.
The withdrawal of documents has been scheduled for September 11, and the final list will be issued on the same day. Polling will take place on September 18 and votes will be counted on September 19.
The announcement comes amid protests by student outfits against the university’s decision mandating that the candidates deposit a ₹1-lakh bond at the time of filing nomination promising not to deface public properties while campaigning.
The ₹1-lakh bond is part of DU’s anti-defacement measures, issued a year after the Delhi High Court came down heavily on the university for property defacement.
Student groups, such as RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Aam Aadmi Party’s Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), have opposed the move and termed it “undemocratic”.
Earlier in the day, the ABVP submitted a memorandum to the university demanding the withdrawal of the bond. “Imposing a ₹1-lakh bond to contest the elections is not only undemocratic but also a malicious attempt to limit the elections to only the affluent students,” it said.
ABVP national media convener Harsh Attri said they held a meeting with the Registrar, and he assured them of “looking into their demands”.
Reviewing options: DU
The Registrar told The Hindu that they are considering alternatives to the anti-defacement measure.
“We are in the process of looking into possible alternatives, such as a guarantee from students instead, after multiple requests from students. We had introduced the measure in pursuance of the Delhi High Court’s recommendations,” he said.
Terming the anti-defacement measure a “Tughlaqi farman”, Kuldeep Bidhuri, the Delhi unit president of ASAP, described it as a “conspiracy to directly block middle-class students from contesting elections”.
Meanwhile, the NSUI staged a demonstration on the campus demanding 12 days of menstrual leave per semester for women students.
Published – August 14, 2025 12:59 am IST
