NSUI hits rocky ground as ABVP moves Delhi High Court

NEW DELHI: Did Rocky Tuseed, recently elected the president of Delhi University Students’ Union in a turnaround poll for the Congress-affiliated NSUI, deliberately hide facts that would have made him ineligible to contest the elections? Did he choose not to disclose at the time of filing his nomination that there was a case currently being heard against him in Tis Hazari Courts for an “attempt to commit culpable homicide”? And did he submit improper academic details in order to become eligible to fight the elections? ABVP certainly think so and has alleged as much in court, with Delhi high court noting on Wednesday that if true, this constituted a serious case of concealment of facts.

Hearing these complaints on Wednesday, Justice Indermeet Kaur of Delhi High Court remarked, “It is very serious. It is concealment.” The alleged violations were brought to the court’s notice in an impleadment application filed by ABVP’s Rajat Chaudhary, who had lost the contest to Tuseed, in an ongoing petition filed by the NSUI nominee challenging the DU election committee’s order rejecting his nomination, which the court had dismissed.

The court has sought the responses of Tuseed and the university and will next hear the matter on November 15.


According to DUSU’s code of conduct, an election candidate cannot have academic arrears in the year of contesting the election or failed in the preceding academic year and/or got re-admitted in the current academic year. Further the candidates also have to aver that they do not have criminal records.

AVBP claimed that Tuseed had not only been arrested in an attempt to murder case, but a case was under way against him. Apart from this and complaints that his admission documents spelt his name variously, the NSUI candidate had also furnished details of an earlier exam rather than his last, as required by election norms, because he had failed in Buddhist Studies, the RSS-affiliated group accused.

However, Ashutosh Bhardwaj, OSD, admissions, DU, said that putting the roll number of the previous academic year held good because the candidate is supposed to furnish the last graduated academic record. NSUI office bearers added that Tuseed had cancelled his admission into the first year of Buddhist Studies.

Explaining why Tuseed had been disqualified earlier, SB Babbar, DU chief election officer, said, “We received a complaint against Tuseed regarding disciplinary action taken against him in Shivaji College, which was confirmed by the HoD. Our legal team advised cancellation of his nomination. But then the court reinstated his candidature. We declared the result, but after the issue went to court, the complaints of his failure in Buddhist Studies and the criminal case came up. Now the grievance cell will decide what needs to be done.”

Saket Bahuguna, national media convener, ABVP, also charged someone from the admission committee with aiding Tuseed. “How else could the name have changed from Rocky Tushir in the entrance test to Rocky Tuseed during admission?” Bahuguna asked.