A scuffle reportedly broke out at the Law Center-2 in Delhi University’s (DU) North Campus between Lokesh Chaudhary, NSUI’s (National Students' Union of India) Joint Secretary candidate, and a couple of election officers on Friday, September 27, only an hour after the voting had started at the centres.

It was alleged that Chaudhary, wearing his election badge, attempted to enter a booth and got into a fight with the staff, including Prof Anupam Jha, who was on duty as election in-charge. Jha was reportedly mistreated during the incident, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

While the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) posted several critical posts on social media against the NSUI for misbehaving with the election officers, the latter issued a statement saying that it “strongly condemns the blatant mismanagement and biased conduct of the Delhi University (DU) administration, which is operating under the pressure of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”

“Several colleges across the university have already commenced voting, while in some others, the process has been suspiciously delayed. This irregularity raises serious concerns about the integrity of the election process,” said Varun Choudhary, National President of NSUI.

It further read, “Such actions demonstrate the undue influence exerted by the ABVP and BJP, compromising the democratic rights of students.”