The Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) is the world’s largest student body, with over 700,000 students spread over 91 affiliated colleges and 16 faculties. It was established in 1949, and in 1954 the first DUSU elections were held. It is the representative body of the students from member colleges and university faculties and teaching departments. The students of member colleges and university faculties & teaching departments are the members of the union. The Vice–Chancellor of the University of Delhi is the patron of the union. The official year and term of the union is from 16th of August of every year to the 15th of August of the following year.Delhi University Students’ Union Constitution

History Ever since its establishment in 1922, students of Delhi University were deeply involved in the Independence Movement against British Colonial rule. There had been a long–standing demand for establishing a student body in the university, finally, in 1947 under the chairmanship of V. K. R. V. Rao, then head of the DU economics department, a provisional committee that included presidents of all constituent college unions was authorised to draft the constitution of the Delhi University Students’ Union. Finally, DUSU was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on April 9, 1949.

Over the years, several DUSU members have gone on to have notable careers in Indian politics, including several Ministers: Arun Jaitley, Vijay Goel, Vijay Jolly, Ajay Maken, Rekha Gupta and Alka Lamba. DUSU has a budget of approximately Twenty–Four lakhs INR.DUSU spent more on tea, photostats than on seminars, lectures Every member of union pay Twenty INR as an annual subscription to union funds which is collected along with the fees collected at the time of admission by the respective college or institutions.

Elections

Elections to the union are held by direct voting by the students of the university faculties & teaching departments and member colleges. Member colleges and university faculties have their own college or faculty students' union. The DUSU is a university–level umbrella organisation for university faculties and member colleges' student unions. The DUSU has four office bearers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Joint–Secretary. DUSU also includes one or two Central Councillor(s) from each college affiliated with DUSU, who are directly elected by the college. The President of each college affiliated with DUSU is also a member of the central council of DUSU.

The elections are usually held in July–August of each year. As of 2019 there are total of 52 Delhi University colleges & faculties affiliated to DUSU.

Delhi University politics is called the “mini theatre of national politics”, and thus all major national parties invest heavily in the elections. Amongst all the Student elections in India, DUSU elections "gain most nationwide attention" besides Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union. With 1.45 lakhs+ students voting, DUSU elections are the biggest democratic election at an academic campus every year.

List of DUSU officeholders TermPresidentVice PresidentSecretaryJoint SecretaryRef1954–55Gajraj Bahadur Nagar1955–56Pran SabharwalYadukul BhushanHD Tulisdas1956–57Yadukul BhushanRanjendaran GiriAshok Kumar Tanwar1957–58Krishnanand SharmaShri Ram SethiAdish Jain1958–59Narinder Kumar Mehta (Independent)Surender ChawlaKamal Kapoor1959–60Ram Labhaya LakhinaSudershan ChawlaAshwani Seth1960–61Viresh Pratap Chaudhury (NSUI)Swami PoornanandMadan Saluja1961–62Madan SalujaSom Nath DhawanShyam Sunder BhatiaVed Sharma1962–63Joginder Singh Sethi (NSUI)KB ThukralYashpal Sharma1963–64Narendra Nath Kalia (NSUI)SP OberaiSurender SethiBahadur Singh1964–65Surinder SethBahadur SinghRajvanshal JainVed Prakash1965–66Ashok MarwahRajkumar JainMM Singh JunejaVed Kharbanda1966–67Subhash GoelSubhash ChughPradeep Seth1967–68Harcharan Singh Josh (NSUI)Shanti DiwanVijay Seth1968–69Ajit Singh ChadhaAttar SinghRamesh VermaVishnu Kumar1969–70Subhash SahniAshok GandhiAK Dhawan1970–71Subhash Chopra (NSUI)Omprakash SumanHansraj1971–72Bhagwan Singh (ABVP)Kamal Kumar KakkarSher Singh Dagar (ABVP)Rakesh Bhushan1972–73Sri Ram Khanna (ABVP)Arun Jaitley (ABVP)1973–74Alok Kumar (ABVP)1974–75Arun Jaitley (ABVP)Vijay BindalPurnima Sethi (ABVP)1975–76Elections not held due to the emergency1976–771977–78Vijay Goel (ABVP)Sunil Mittal (ABVP)Rajat Sharma (ABVP)T Joggulamba (ABVP)1978–79Hari Shankar Gupta (NSUI rebel)Rajesh Oberoi (JVM)Vijay Jolly (ABVP)Pinky Anand1979–80Rajesh OberoiBharti KumariPinky AnandAmit Sinha1980–81Vijay Jolly (ABVP)Sonia SobtiSushil KumarSanjay Khanna1981–82Sudhanshu Mittal (ABVP)Arti MehraAjit PandeyYogesh Sharma1982–83Yogesh Sharma (ABVP)Satish Upadhyay (ABVP)RP SinghMeera Aggarwal1983–84Anil SoniBalram YadavNaresh SharmaAnju Malhotra1984–85Balram Yadav (ABVP)Vijender Gupta (ABVP)Satpal DhunnaMeera Aggarwal1985–86Ajay Maken (NSUI)Madan Singh BishtRajesh GargNeeraj Bala1986–87Madan Singh Bisht (DCM)Anju MalhotraNarender TandonNeena Sachdeva1987–88Narender Tondon (ABVP)Avdesh MishraAnju SachdevaAshish Sood (ABVP)1988–89Ashish Sood (ABVP)Anju SachdevaHari OmKamal Kant Sharma1989–90Anju SachdevaAvdesh SharmaKamal Kant SharmaSunita Wadhera1990–91Elections cancelled due to Mandal Commission protests1991–92Rajiv Goswami (Independent)Rama KantSonia SethAjay Chauhan1992–93Avdesh Sharma (ABVP)Archana SharmaMonica Kakkar (ABVP)1993–94Monica Kakkar (ABVP)Ajay ChauhanShalu Malik (NSUI)1994–95Shalu Malik (NSUI)Deepak Kumar TyagiVandana MishraTarun Tyagi1995–96Alka Lamba (NSUI)Narendra Kumar YadavRekha Jindal (ABVP)Rajneesh Jindal1996–97Rekha Jindal (ABVP)Anil Jha Vats (ABVP)Surender GoelPoonam Parashar1997–98Anil Jha Vats (ABVP)Jayant Singh Chauhan (ABVP)Jitender Choudhary1998–99Thakur Jaivir Rana (ABVP)Anil Solanki (ABVP)Sanjay Choudhary1999–2000Ritu Verma (ABVP)Amit Malik (NSUI)Neetu Verma (NSUI)Arun Khatana2000–01Amit Malik (NSUI)Neetu Verma (NSUI)Harsh Chaudhary2001–02Neetu Verma (NSUI)Nakul Bhardwaj (ABVP)Vikas ShokeenRohit Choudhary2002–03Nakul Bhardwaj (ABVP)Sunder DaagarAshok Basoya2003–04Rohit Chaudhary (NSUI)Narinder Tokas (NSUI)Ragini Nayak (NSUI)Pankaj Kochar2004–05Narinder Tokas (NSUI)Ashok BasoyaAmrita Dhawan (NSUI)Gaurav Khari (ABVP)2005–06Ragini Nayak (NSUI)Amrita Dhawan (NSUI)Ramit Sherawat (NSUI)Deepak Choudhary (NSUI)2006–07Amrita Dhawan (NSUI)Vikas Dahiya (ABVP)Shashikant (NSUI)Tarun Tanwar (NSUI)2007–08Amrita Bahari (NSUI)Devraj Tehlan (NSUI)Manish Choudhary (NSUI)Khusboo Sharma (NSUI)2008–09 Nupur Sharma (ABVP) Manohar Nagar (NSUI)Amit Choudhary (NSUI)Ashish Gahlot (NSUI)2009–10Manoj Choudhary (ABVP)Kirti Wadhera (ABVP) Ashradeep Kaur (NSUI)Anupriya Tyagi (SCS) (ABVP backed)2010–11Jitender Choudhary (ABVP) Priya Dabas (ABVP)Neetu Dabas (ABVP)Akshay Kumar (NSUI)2011–12Ajay Chhikara (NSUI) Vikas Choudhary (ABVP)Vikas Yadav (ABVP)Deepak Bansal (ABVP)2012–13Arun Hooda (NSUI)Varun Khari (NSUI)Varun Choudhry (NSUI)Vishnu Basoya (ABVP)Raveena Choudhary (NSUI)2013–14Aman Awana (ABVP) Utkarsh Chaudhary (ABVP)Karishma Thakur (NSUI)Raju Rawat (ABVP)2014–15Mohit Nagar (ABVP) Parvesh Malik (ABVP)Kanika Shekhawat (ABVP)Ashutosh Mathur (ABVP)2015–16Satender Awana (ABVP) Sunny Dedha (ABVP)Anjali Rana (ABVP)Chhatarpal Yadav (ABVP)2016–17Amit Tanwar (ABVP)Priyanka Chhawri (ABVP)Ankit Sangwan (ABVP)Mohit Garid (NSUI)2017–18Rocky Tusheed (NSUI)Kunal Sehrawat (NSUI)Mahamedhaa Nagar (ABVP)Uma Shankar (ABVP)2018–19Shakti Singh (ABVP)Shakti Singh (ABVP) (upgraded to President)Akash Choudhary (NSUI)Jyoti Chaudhary (ABVP)2019–20Akshit Daiya (ABVP) Pradeep Tanwar (ABVP)Ashish Lamba (NSUI)Shivangi Kharwal (ABVP)2020–21Elections cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in India2021–222022–232023–24Tushar Dedha (ABVP)Abhi Dahiya (NSUI)Aparajita Thakur (ABVP)Sachin Baisla (ABVP)2024–25Rounak Khatri (NSUI)Bhanu Pratap Singh (ABVP)Mitravinda Karanwal (ABVP)Lokesh Choudhary (NSUI)2025–26Aryan Maan (ABVP)Rahul Jhansla (NSUI)Kunal Chaudhary (ABVP)Deepika Jha (ABVP)2026–27Yash Dabas (ABVP)Deepanshu Shokeen (Independent)Riya Chhawdi (ABVP)Lakshay Raj Singh (ABVP)

Alumni

Madan Singh Bisht, MLA from Dwarahat Viresh Pratap Chaudhry, awarded Padma Shri Vijay Goel, former MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Hari Shankar Gupta, former MLA from Wazirpur Rekha Gupta, Chief Minister of Delhi Vijender Gupta, Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly Ram Lakhina, founder of NICCT, awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Arun Jaitley, former Minister of Finance Vijay Jolly, former MLA from Saket Alka Lamba, former MLA from Chandni Chowk Sudhanshu Mittal, President of International Kho Kho Federation Ajay Maken, former Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Gajraj Bahadur Nagar, former Haryana Food and Supplies Minister Purnima Sethi, former Minister in Delhi Nupur Sharma, former National Spokesperson of BJP Rajat Sharma, founder of India TV, awarded Padma Bhushan Ashish Sood, Delhi Home Minister Satish Upadhyay, MLA from Malviya Nagar Anil Jha Vats, Deputy Leader of Opposition Delhi

Notes

References

Sources Delhi University: Celebrating 100 Glorious Years. By Hardeep S. Puri · 2022. Rupa Publishers. ISBN 9789355203885.