Delhi University Students Union Elections 2025: Students' Problems And How The Manifestos Aim To Solve Them

The principal student factions have released their manifestos that address education, accessibility, campus security and well-being as the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections approach. The front runners are the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the SFI-AISA combination.

The ABVP has pointed out that its manifesto was influenced by over 5,000 suggestions garnered from students. It has promised subsidised health insurance, more money for academic and cultural societies, enhanced sports facilities with nutrition for sportspersons, and accessibility audits to open up campuses. Free Wi-Fi in DU and scholarship for final-year research scholars are also on its agenda.

The NSUI, however, has emphasized affordability, accessibility, and students' rights in its manifesto. It has come up with a barrier-free campus, Rs 5,000 monthly stipend for disabled students, and their representation in major university committees. It also vowed protection schemes for North-Eastern and linguistic minority students, along with green campus initiatives.

In its independent women's manifesto, NSUI has emphasized safety and health with promises of dedicated helplines, sanitary pad dispensing machines, menstrual hygiene awareness campaigns and gender sensitivity training on campus. The organization has also demanded rejecting the National Education Policy (NEP) in place of increased public funding.

The SFI-AISA alliance has set forth its agenda as "a true student-centric manifesto". It has vowed to fight against fee increases, advocate for elected Internal Complaints Committees, insist on gender sensitisation cells, and revive grievance redressal apparatuses. The alliance has also committed menstrual leave for women students and exhorted women's colleges such as Lady Shri Ram, Gargi and Daulat Ram to come under the union.

The alliance contended that crucial teaching hours were being sidetracked towards "bogus courses" in the Skill Enhancement and Value Added categories, rather than core subjects. It pledged to restore core course credits, rework internal assessments and reintroduce entrance examinations.

As per the official time table, voting for DUSU elections will be conducted on Thursday, 18th September, 2025. Two shifts have been arranged for voting: from 8:30 am to 1 pm for day students and from 3 pm to 7:30 pm for evening students. The counting of votes is scheduled for the following day, Friday, 19th September, 2025.