New Delhi : For the Congress, the Delhi University Students’ Union election was not just another student poll. It was supposed to be a test of its outreach to young voters. The Congress leader on Monday summoned NSUI in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar and national president Vinod Jakhar for a meeting to review the election results. Congress organisation general secretary KC Venugopal was also present.
According to sources said Gandhi questioned the two leaders about how the NSUI ended up with such a poor showing despite being close to winning the presidential post. “We were very close to winning the presidential seat, then what happened?” Gandhi is learnt to have asked during the meeting. Sources said Gandhi expressed displeasure with Kumar and Jakhar over the election management and sought a detailed explanation of the strategy, candidate selection and campaign.
The questions became more pointed over the case of Deepanshu Shokeen, a former NSUI member who contested the vice-president’s post as an Independent and won. Shokeen had been active in student politics since 2023 and had campaigned for the NSUI in the 2023 and 2024 elections. He sought the organisation’s ticket again but was not selected and eventually entered the 2025 contest as an Independent.
Gandhi, however, was not satisfied with the manner in which the matter was handled, sources said. Congress leader Amitabh Dubey has disputed the claim that Shokeen was denied a ticket. In a post on X, Dubey said Shokeen was offered the presidential ticket but turned it down before deciding to contest the vice-president’s post independently. The DUSU results added to the Congress’s concerns. The RSS-linked ABVP won the president, secretary and joint-secretary posts, while Shokeen won the vice-president’s post.
The party has been making a visible push to reconnect with younger voters, with Gandhi’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” outreach drawing students in different cities. The DUSU result, therefore, has raised questions within the organisation about whether that broader youth outreach is translating into ground-level organisational strength.
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