In May 1922, the University of Delhi was formed through an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly. Initially comprising three constituent colleges — St. Stephen’s College, Ramjas College and Hindu College—the newly christened university began with two departments: arts and science.Twenty-five years later, and only nine days before Independence, the University’s Executive Council, its highest administrative body, found itself mulling over a straightforward proposal: that Rs 150 be bequeathed to cover the initial expenses for a students’ union to represent the wider student body.Thus was born the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). Over the next 78 years, DUSU has transformed from a fledgling forum into the premier playground of Indian student politics.Today, DUSU represents over seven lakh students across 91 colleges. Student voters still turn up in strong numbers — hovering around 40% turnout — and issues of life on campus are inevitably discussed.The early electoral yearsBetween 1947 and 1949, the DUSU Constitution was drafted. The union was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 9, 1949.However, the first official DUSU ballot was cast in 1954, and reflected a different electoral system than the one followed today.University students had participated in the Independence movement, while colleges across North Campus — which had since expanded — were hotspots of anti-colonial resistance.Story continues below this adDUSU itself primarily functioned as an internal campus body at the time: addressing issues of student welfare, library access rules and redressal of student grievances. The absence of formal party structures through most of the early 1950s kept DUSU politics relatively insular.During elections, college councillors would indirectly vote for the leaders at the time. This was retrospectively termed the indirect voting system.Through the 1960s, student organisations affiliated with wider political movements increasingly entered DUSU politics. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated with the RSS; the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’s student organisation; and Left student organisations such as the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) became part of the university’s increasingly politicised student landscape.In his 1974 paper titled “Student Politics in India: The Case of Delhi University”, sociologist T K Oommen argued that university politics could not be understood in isolation from the wider political system. As national political parties increasingly recognised campuses as grounds for ideological mobilisation, student elections became contests in which the stakes extended well beyond campus welfare. The result was a gradual escalation in the intensity of electoral competition. Winning the student union meant visibility, influence, and access to a wider political network and greater resources.Story continues below this adIn the winter of 1972, students launched a landmark 50-day agitation demanding direct elections to DUSU. Until then, students voted to elect college councillors who elected the DUSU’s central office-bearers: the DUSU president, for instance, was chosen by the 10 councillors.The administration eventually agreed to the demand. In 1973, direct elections were held for the four core posts of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint-Secretary. All four were won by ABVP candidates; Arun Jaitley, elected from the Faculty of Law, became Vice-President. He became DUSU president the following year.Also Read | How tryst with DUSU shaped Arun Jaitley’s politicsThe shift to direct elections also made DUSU politics a more visible arena for organised student groups and wider political mobilisation. The union increasingly became a training ground for leaders who would go on to participate in national politics.The DUSU elections were cancelled for the first time in 1991 amid anti-reservation student protests over the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations.Story continues below this adToday, DUSU elections are multi-crore spectacles, characterised by a litany of cars fit to escort Cabinet Ministers, college-wide advocacy and paper campaigns along Chhatra Marg, which houses the union headquarters.In 2005, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to form a committee to set uniform guidelines for student elections across Indian universities. The J M Lyngdoh Committee thus examined regulations to cap campaign spending and regulate issues like vehicle rallies.It recommended a maximum spending limit of Rs 5,000 per candidate on election campaigning, along with restrictions on printed material, vehicles, loudspeakers and other forms of campaigning. The Supreme Court subsequently endorsed the recommendations as the framework for student elections.However, these guidelines have been repeatedly flouted.Also Read | Delhi building collapse: Why DU hostels accommodate few, and the price others payAs student organisations backed by national political parties gained influence, rivalry became an increasingly visible feature of DUSU politics. The ABVP and NSUI have since emerged as the two dominant contenders, while Left groups such as AISA and SFI have also contested and influenced campus politics. The rivalry has at times spilled into violence: in 2015, members of ABVP, NSUI and the Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) clashed on the final day of campaigning, with all three sides filing police complaints.Story continues below this adMore recently, the onset of Covid forced a total, four-year freeze on student union democracy. The lack of freshly elected leadership fueled years of intense student agitations, with prominent political outfits like the ABVP and the NSUI taking to the streets to demand the immediate resumption of the process.When the university finally reintroduced elections in 2023, the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines were blatantly flouted: candidates buried public walls, metro stations, and university gates under thick layers of illegal posters, banners, and graffiti.The issue had already reached the Delhi High Court in 2017 through Prashant Manchanda v. Union of India & Ors. The case later became the vehicle through which the court dealt with election-related defacement. In 2024, the Delhi High Court stayed vote-counting until the candidates and student organisations cleared the mess and restored public properties at their own expense.The run-up to the 2026 elections similarly saw the High Court reprimand the university, the Delhi Police and the Centre for hooliganism, violence, and general gross misconduct, with 998 challans issued and 47 vehicles impounded during campaigning. A bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya has enacted a sweeping, zero-tolerance ban on all post-poll victory processions across roads, campus grounds, and hostels, and ordered law enforcement to initiate strict criminal and contempt proceedings against anyone who dared to violate the mandate.