Student polls: DU to foot the bill of clean-up drive for now; candidates to reimburse later

Delhi University (DU) will foot the bill for the restoration of public properties defaced with campaign material across the city in the run-up to the student union polls and recover the expenditure incurred on the drive from the candidates later, according to officials.

The drive was initiated after the Delhi High Court expressed displeasure over the “blatant disregard for election norms” and “abuse of money power” by candidates during campaigning for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls.

It had barred the university from declaring the results of the September 27 elections until candidates restore the defaced properties and compensate civic agencies for the damage caused.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad said over 100 members of its outfit carried out a clean-up campaign at the university’s North and South Campuses.

The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) claimed that its members had been cleaning up the university campuses throughout the election season.

‘Main outfits stay away’

However, university officials said the drive was largely carried out by their staff, with smaller student outfits alleging that the response by the bigger organisations had been mostly “tokenistic”.

According to a status report submitted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in the High Court, its 37 employees had removed around 2 lakh posters and banners from the university campuses between September 11 and 26.

The MCD spent around ?4.5 lakh on the exercise.

Posters and banners had also come up at metro stations, prompting Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to also undertake a clean-up campaign.

DU Proctor Rajni Abbi said, “After the MCD wrapped up its drive, university employees began cleaning up the campuses. The university will pay the MCD and the DMRC for the drives they undertook.?After paying the agencies, we will raise the payment demand before the students who were campaigning.”

Sanjay Gehlot, chairperson of Delhi Commission for Safai Karamcharis, said despite directions from the court, the campuses had to be cleaned by sanitation workers.