INSERTING ADVERTISEMENTS FOR DUSU ELECTIONS THROUGH PAID SITES BY CYSS IS A WRONG PRECEDENT: AJAY MAKEN

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Shri Ajay Maken today brought to the notice of Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dinesh Singh about the gross violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations with regard to the extravagant spending and other malpractices committed by CYSS, the student wing of the Aam Aadmi Party, just prior to the DUSU (Delhi University Students Union) elections. Shri Ajay Maken, along with DPCC chief spokesperson Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee, NSUI national president Roji M John, AICC secretary and in-charge of NSUI Girish Chodankar and Amrita Dhawan, today met Prof Dinesh Singh at his office and submitted a memorandum to apprise him about the malpractices being committed by the CYSS in the run-up to the DUSU elections. (A copy of the memorandum is being enclosed).

The Congress delegation told Prof. Singh that in the hoardings and posters, CYSS candidates have put up their names with pictures of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, which clearly establishes the candidates-AAP link. Shri Maken said the names of these candidates have been declared in the media and they might have even filed their nominations by now as the process is on. “In these posters and hoardings, there is a deliberate attempt to confuse people with false propaganda on issues like free WiFi and CCTV in buses. There is no clarity as to whether these are poll promises or an attempt to flaunt the so-called ‘achievements’ by the AAP Government in Delhi. These are done to deliberately mislead and confuse the students”, the memorandum pointed out.

Shri Maken said more than 50 hoardings have been put up by the CYSS all over Delhi on paid sites and bus shelters, costing crores of rupees. “This is unprecedented as no paid sites have ever been used or such enormous amount of money spent on Students’ Union Elections”, Shri Maken noted.

The memorandum also pointed out that on September 1, 2015, a students’ event is being organized at the Talkatora Stadium by the CYSS, which by conservative estimates, “should not cost anything less than Rs. 50 lakh”. Clause 6.7.7 of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations states that “No candidate shall be permitted to carry out processions, or public meetings, or in any way canvass or distribute propaganda outside the university/college campus”.

Shri Maken requested the Vice-Chancellor that “In view of this, the nominated candidates of CYSS should not be allowed to participate in the aforementioned event, and that no such activity permitted during the course of the event that amounts to campaigning or, in any way, relates to DUSU election”, whether the stadium has been booked by the AAP party or the AAP Government.

“It is obvious that the parent political body is pumping in money. It completely goes against the spirit of students body elections and also clause 6.6.4 of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations that specifically aims to ‘prevent the inflow of funds from political parties into the student election process and discourages utilizing funds from any other sources than voluntary contributions from the student body”, the memorandum stated.

The Congress delegation requested Prof Singh to look into this matter and issue warnings to the concerned people to immediately stop these practices that completely go against the spirit of the Students’ Union Elections.

Speaking to reporters outside the VC’s office, Shri Ajay Maken blamed the AAP party for setting a wrong precedent by pumping in crores of rupees for advertisements in paid sites, and wondered where was the money coming from as the AAP had claimed recently that it had no money for party funds. He said this was totally against the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee which wanted the students elections free of interference by political parties, and also bring down the expenses for the student elections. He said though the Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years, it never splurged such kind of money on DUSU elections, though the NSUI had won many DUSU elections. He said the ads on paid sites have also put pressure on candidates of other political parties, which would shoot up the expenses for the DUSU elections.

Shri Maken said he himself was a former DUSU president, and it was for the first time that such money power was being used for the DUSU elections, to spread lies and falsehood. He said the AAP, which had promised free WiFi and CCTV cameras in buses, have not fulfilled its promises, as these facilities have not been provided even in a single bus. He said the AAP, which had come to power on the anti-corruption plank, and had promised clean politics, was now setting wrong precedents to mislead the people.