ABVP’s 3 DUSU wins make headlines, but 23,942 NOTA votes tell another story

Delhi: DUSU elections 2026 saw NOTA receive 23,942 votes across four central posts, an increase of 268 from last year, with NOTA exceeding some Left-backed candidates.

The NOTA option received 23,942 votes across the four central posts in the 2026 Delhi University Students' Union elections, rising by 268 votes from the previous year. The tally was higher than some candidates from the AISA-SFI alliance and other student groups.

NOTA, or "None of the Above", allows voters to indicate that they do not wish to choose any of the candidates contesting an election.

In the 2026 DUSU polls, NOTA received 4,310 votes for President, 4,359 for Vice-President, 7,884 for Secretary and 7,389 for Joint Secretary. Together, these votes totalled 23,942.

The overall figure was 268 higher than the previous year's NOTA tally.

NOTA exceeds some Left-backed candidates

NOTA received more votes than AISA-SFI candidates in some of the central-panel contests.

For Vice-President, NOTA secured 4,359 votes, compared with 2,883 for AISA-SFI candidate Akshat Shikhar, according to the figures cited in the report.

For Joint Secretary, NOTA received 7,389 votes, while AISA-SFI candidate B. Parijat secured 5,837 votes.

The Secretary contest also saw NOTA record 7,884 votes, slightly above the 7,639 votes secured by ASAP candidate Pankaj Kumar.

These comparisons show the number of students who chose not to select any listed candidate, but they do not by themselves establish why individual students selected NOTA.

Independent candidate wins Vice-President post

The DUSU results also included a notable independent victory. Deepanshu Shokeen won the Vice-President post with 30,615 votes, defeating ABVP's Ishu Maurya, who secured 16,910 votes. Shokeen's tally was the highest among the four central-panel winners.

ABVP won the other three central posts. Yash Dabas won President, Riya Chhawdi won Secretary and Lakshya Raj Singh won Joint Secretary.

What the NOTA numbers show

The NOTA figures provide one measure of students who did not select any of the candidates on the ballot. The increase from the previous year is relatively small overall, although the distribution varied considerably between posts.

The numbers also need to be considered alongside the wider election results rather than treated on their own as evidence of a single reason for student voting behaviour.

Reports from the campaign period included concerns among students about the nature of election campaigning, including allegations and complaints around the use of money and aggressive campaigning. Such views are reported perceptions and should not be treated as an established explanation for every NOTA vote.

The 23,942 NOTA votes are significant because they represent a sizeable number of ballots across the four central posts. However, NOTA is a distinct electoral choice: it indicates that a voter did not choose any of the listed candidates, but it does not identify the reason for that decision.

The 2026 results also show that established student organisations did not win every central-panel contest. An independent candidate won the Vice-President post, while ABVP secured the other three positions.

Taken together, the results provide several different signals from the DUSU electorate, including the continued strength of established organisations, an independent victory and substantial use of the NOTA option. Drawing a single conclusion about student sentiment from the NOTA tally alone would go beyond what the voting figures establish.