No counting of votes unless you clean up your mess, Delhi HC tells DUSU candidates

New Delhi: Taking a tough tone with candidates of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) and college elections, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday reiterated it would not vacate its interim order staying the counting of votes unless the campus structures are cleaned.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Manmohan, hearing applications filed by two candidates from different colleges seeking declaration of results, said: "Why don't you clean up the mess? The day the place is cleaned up, we will allow the counting of votes the very next day."

In an order passed on September 25, the Bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, directed that the counting of votes will not take place till the court is satisfied that the posters, graffiti, hoarding, and spray paint are removed, the vandalised public properties are restored and the losses suffered due to defacement are made good by the erring candidates.

After perusal of the video and photographs placed on record, the Delhi High Court said that it was of the "prima facie view that there has been extensive use of money and muscle power in DUSU and college elections contrary to Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines".

Further, it said: "This Court is of the opinion that elections, which are supposed to be a festival of democracy, have been converted into a festival of money laundering and defacement of public property. In some respects, it reflects the failure of the education system."

The matter will be heard next on October 21 and in the meantime, the court asked the parties, including MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) and DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) to file their status reports.

Earlier, the Delhi HC had asked Delhi Police to cooperate with Delhi University, MCD and as well as the DMRC to ensure that "no further defacement of public property takes place and the defacement which has already taken place is removed".

In the course of the hearing, the MCD apprised the high court that between September 13 and 25, it removed 16,000 boards, 7,000 hoardings, 200,000 posters/pamphlets, and around 28,000 banners.

The applicant, advocate Prashant Manchanda, stated that due to DUSU polls, public properties across all quarters of the national capital have been defaced, in blatant violation of not only the applicable civil and penal provisions, but in direct contravention of the orders of the Delhi HC. The application said that the aspiring candidates under the patronage of political parties have left no place unscathed, be it the buses, bus stops, metro stations, public properties, private properties, etc. and even police stations have been defaced by posters, banners, spray paints, and massive hoardings.