NSUI’s Arun Hooda defeated his nearest rival Ankit Dhananjoy of ABVP for the post of president by a margin of 5,465 votes. NSUI took control of the students union after a gap of couple of years as the outfit could only win the president’s post last year.
Soon after announcement of the poll results and the ABVP activists went berserk in the campus. ABVP supporters jumped over the walls of the counting centre. They alleged that some foul play was involved in the counting of votes, which has led to their defeat.
But even as the police personnel present at the counting centre tried to restrain the mob, the situation only turned more violent with ABVP activists breaking the police barricades and signboards. The police responded by lathicharge while ABVP activists pelted stones on them.
“We received a complaint that the students had climbed the wall of the counting centre and were trying to enter the building in order to seize the electronic voting machines. Even though we tried to restrain the students, the crowd of supporters created a riot-like situation,” said Sindhu Pillai, deputy commissioner of police (north Delhi).
Those injured in lathicharge were rushed to Hindu Rao hospital. “Thirteen students were brought to the casualty. We referred two of them to AIIMS since they had suffered head injuries. The rest were discharged from casualty itself since they had suffered minor injuries and no fractures,” said Dr. RB Mittal, medical superintendent, Hindu Rao hospital.
