The ABVP won three of the four central panel posts in the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections on Saturday, but an Independent candidate, former NSUI member Deepanshu Shokeen, upset the contest for vice-president’s chair, winning by more than 13,000 votes.Yash Dabas won the president’s chair, Riya Chhawdi was elected secretary and Lakshya Raj Singh won the joint secretary’s chair. Shokeen, who contested as an Independent after not receiving an NSUI ticket, polled 30,615 votes to defeat ABVP’s Ishu Maurya, who secured 16,910 votes.The result marked the first time since 2015 that the NSUI failed to win a seat on the DUSU central panel. The ABVP had last swept all four posts in 2014 and 2015 polls.Shokeen’s win marks a rare victory on the DUSU central panel, where non-party candidates have seldom broken through. The last Independent candidate victory came in 2009, when Manoj Choudhary won the DUSU presidency. Before that, Rajiv Goswami had won the president’s post in 1991.The win also makes him the first Independent candidate in the last two decades to capture the vice-president’s chair.The presidential contest remained close through much of the counting. NSUI’s Vijay Shankar Meena led Dabas by one vote after the ninth round – 10,888 to 10,887. His lead increased to 338 votes after the 11th round, but by the 14th round the difference had narrowed to one vote again, with Meena on 16,107 and Dabas on 16,106.Dabas eventually pulled ahead in the final rounds and won with 24,576 votes, defeating Meena by 2,053 votes. Left alliance candidate Ananya Raturi polled 5,377 votes.Story continues below this adThe joint secretary’s contest was also closely fought. Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha candidate Vishesh Yadav was leading after the seventh round with 6,165 votes, followed by ABVP’s Singh with 5,386 and NSUI’s Gopal Choudhary with 5,339. Even after the 17th round, Yadav remained narrowly ahead – 13,346 votes to Singh’s 13,342.Singh eventually finished on top with 16,615 votes while Yadav polled 15,778 and Choudhary 15,206 votes.The secretary’s contest was comparatively less closely fought, with ABVP’s Chhawdi maintaining her lead through the counting. She finished with 21,650 votes, ahead of NSUI’s Namrata Chaudhary with 14,869. AISA-SFI candidate Stanzin Deskyong secured 8,734 votes.The vice-president’s contest was the most decisive. Shokeen had established a substantial lead from the early rounds – after six rounds, he polled 9,379 votes against the 4,819 of ABVP’s Ishu Maurya. After the 11th round, his tally had risen to 17,283 against Maurya’s 8,849 votes.Story continues below this adShokeen eventually secured 30,615 votes, while Maurya polled 16,910. NSUI’s Vir Chatrath received 4,313 votes.The results were declared after 20 rounds of counting.The election was held amid concerns over alleged paper leaks, hostel accommodation, campus facilities and safety. The September 6 collapse of a PG hostel building in Satya Niketan, in which seven people, including five DU students, were killed, had also brought accommodation and safety to the centre of the campaign.The polling day on Friday had recorded a turnout of 40.46%, higher than 39.45% in 2025 and 29.7% in 2024.Dabas said his first priority would be conducting safety audits of college hostels and PG accommodations, besides working towards new hostels, girls’ hostels in every college and a dedicated student helpline.Story continues below this adWhile Chhawdi said the new union would focus on student safety, facilities and equal opportunities, including the concerns of women students, Singh said the result brought with it the responsibility of remaining accessible to students.In a statement, ABVP described the result as reflecting students’ support for what it called its “nationalist and student-centric” approach.Alleging malpractice during the election, NSUI national president Vinod Jakhar said the organisation would review its organisational shortcomings before returning to the electoral arena. Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit separately raised concerns over alleged malpractice during counting and at polling centres, saying the matter should be examined, particularly in seats decided by narrow margins.The AISA-SFI alliance, meanwhile, said its candidates had secured a “significant vote share” across all four central panel contests and described itself as a “third force” in DUSU.