More than 2.75 lakh students across Delhi University are set to exercise their franchise in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) Elections 2026 on Friday, 19 September, with over 600 police personnel deployed across campus and an extensive surveillance grid in place, officials confirmed. Results will be declared on Saturday, 20 September.

Voting Schedule and Eligibility

Polling will be conducted in two shifts — 8:30 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 7:30 pm — using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). DUSU guidelines mandate that all students who report within the allotted hours must be permitted to vote.

First-year students, including those freshly enrolled in DU colleges this academic year, can vote by presenting a valid fee receipt alongside a government-issued photo ID — Aadhaar, PAN card, Voter ID, or Driving Licence — if their college identity cards have not yet been issued. Second and third-year students must carry valid college ID cards.

Security Arrangements on Campus

Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh directed all affiliated colleges to strengthen security, while the Delhi Police deployed more than 150 officers equipped with body-worn cameras to document polling-day developments. A wider grid of CCTV cameras and drones will monitor activity across polling sites, officials said.

Women constables have been specifically posted at women's colleges to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. The multi-layered surveillance reflects heightened institutional sensitivity around student union polls in the capital, where past elections have witnessed sporadic incidents of violence and campaigning violations.

The Key Contest: ABVP vs NSUI

The DUSU 2026 presidential race is effectively a two-way fight between Yash Dabas of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — and Vijay Shankar Meena of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Indian National Congress. A total of 25 candidates are contesting the presidency.

For other posts, 20 candidates cleared scrutiny for vice president, 24 for secretary, and 19 for joint secretary. The full ABVP panel fields Ishu Maurya for vice president, Riya Chhawadi for secretary, and Lakshyaraj Singh for joint secretary. NSUI has named Veer Chhatrath for vice president, Namrata Chaudhary for secretary, and Gopal Chaudhary for joint secretary.

Other Contestants in the Fray

Beyond the ABVP–NSUI axis, the Aam Aadmi Party's student wing — the Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) — has fielded Ashmit Kumar Panwar for the presidency and Pankaj Kumar for secretary. The Left-backed All India Students' Association (AISA) has named Ananya as its presidential candidate.

Why These Elections Matter More in 2026

This year's DUSU polls carry heightened significance against a charged campus backdrop. In July 2026, a Gen Z-led protest at Jantar Mantar drew national attention over alleged exam irregularities at Delhi University. Weeks later, the collapse of a PG building in Satya Niketan, south Delhi, threw a harsh spotlight on the chronic shortage of hostel accommodation for DU students — a welfare grievance that student unions have repeatedly raised but the administration has yet to resolve at scale.

Notably, DUSU elections have historically served as a political bellwether, with ABVP and NSUI performances closely tracked by their parent organisations as indicators of youth sentiment. With general political temperatures running high nationally, both BJP and Congress have invested heavily in canvassing this cycle.

All eyes now turn to Saturday's result declaration, which will signal whether the ruling party's youth wing consolidates its hold on India's largest central university or cedes ground to a resurgent Congress student body.