New Delhi: In a climbdown, Delhi University on Friday informed the high court that there was no prerequisite to deposit money to contest the DU Students Union elections.DU made the submission before Justice Mini Pushkarna, who was hearing a plea alleging that a new notification by the university mandates a Rs 1-lakh security bond as a pre-condition for contesting the DUSU polls. During the hearing, the counsel for DU said the university would instead now take an affidavit along with a security bond to ensure candidates don’t deface public property, but no money was to be deposited.Taking note of the submission, the high court disposed of the petition, which challenged DU’s notification mandating poll candidates to execute a bond as a safeguard against potential defacement or violations by themselves or supporters.The petitioner students had claimed that the clause was “ultra vires” to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. Filed by Anjali and Abhishek Kumar, who aspire to contest the DUSU elections, the plea called the measure exclusionary. The “preventive financial imposition” created an “arbitrary classification based on wealth, excluding ordinary students while favouring the affluent, in violation of Articles 14 (equality and non-arbitrariness), 19(1)(a) (free speech in democratic participation) and 21 (right to life with dignity and equal opportunity) of the Constitution”, they argued.DU’s move stemmed from strong criticism received from the high court last year over defacement of the campus during the union elections. The court even stayed the result declaration until defacement material, including posters, hoardings and graffiti, was removed from public property and also ordered DU to be more vigilant in saving its premises and other public places from defacement.After DU’s decision of a Rs 1-lakh bond, student groups, including ABVP, NSUI, SFI and AISA, were up in arms, condemning the move. They said it went against the basic spirit of democracy and would unfairly benefit wealthy candidates.
