A group of SFI activists have filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court against the Delhi University administration and Chief Election Commissioner. The SFI and AISF candidates were allegedly not allowed to submit their nominations, as they were attacked by a mob allegedly led by the ABVP. The nomination forms were torn in the process.
The petition is listed for hearing on September 11. The elections are scheduled to be held on the next day. The incident allegedly occurred on September 4, which was the last day to file the nominations. "SFI and AISF have formed an alliance for the upcoming elections. Activists of both organisations were attacked twice by ABVP on the same day. No SFI member was able to file their nominations. However, one AISF member managed to file his nomination," says Utkarsh, an SFI Delhi State Secretariat member.
He said that the mob that attacked the candidates was huge and even the police found it difficult to save them. "There were more than 80 people who attacked four to five of us. They even outnumbered the police," says Utkarsh. "Their aim was not to assault but prevent us from filing the nominations. The attackers were not students, but a group of people who accompanied the ABVP candidates," he adds.
He also tells us that the attack shows ABVP's failure as an organisation. "The SFI members have been under assault for the past four to five months in Delhi University and this is reflecting that the ABVP failed as a union and to prevent the union, they will resort to violence," he says. A few days ago, AISA activists had also alleged an assault by the ABVP activists.
ABVP, on the other hand, has denied all the allegations. "This is highly impossible. They couldn't have been assaulted at a space with this tight police security. The SFI only wants the elections to be postponed," says Siddharth Yadav, Delhi State Secretary, ABVP.
