We were close, what happened? Rahul Gandhi to Kanhaiya Kumar over DUSU defeat
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. Instead, the party’s student wing NSUI failed to win even a single post on the four-member DUSU central panel.
Weeks after the setback, Rahul Gandhi has now sought answers.
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.
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.
Venugopal, too, is learnt to have questioned Kumar over the result. Sources said he pointed out that Kumar had taken responsibility for the candidates during the ticket distribution process and asked why the outcome was so different from expectations.
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.
Sources said Gandhi specifically asked Kumar and Jakhar why Shokeen was not accommodated. The two leaders reportedly told him that the conditions Shokeen had put forward were unreasonable.
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 NSUI drew a blank.
What has made the defeat particularly uncomfortable for the Congress is its timing.
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.
Sources said the meeting also touched upon the growing political engagement among Gen-Z youth around issues and movements across the country.
Against that backdrop, the leadership felt that a setback in a major student election such as DUSU warranted a closer examination.- Ends
Rahul Gautam is a journalist working as Principal Correspondent in India Today. He has over 8 years of hands-on experience in TV, print and digital media. Rahul covers politics, policy, culture and human interest stories. In quest of stories, Rahul has travelled across the length and breadth of the country. He has also travelled to Hungary, Poland and Ukraine in pursuit of news stories. Rahul likes history, travelling and exploring new cultures/customs.
