The CYSS has been accused by rival student parties of publicising ‘fake’ opinion polls. (Source: Express photo) The CYSS has been accused by rival student parties of publicising ‘fake’ opinion polls. (Source: Express photo)

With less than two weeks to go before the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, AAP students’ wing has found itself in the midst of allegations of publicising “fake” opinion polls. Huge hoardings of the results of an alleged opinion poll have been put up all across DU’s North Campus, including on bus stops, declaring that the Chhatra Yuva Sanghrash Samiti (CYSS) will win the elections with 45 per cent of the votes.

The “poll” hoardings show that CYSS will get 45 per cent of the total votes, BJP-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) 39 per cent and Congress’ National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) just nine per cent.

The controversial part, however, is the source of this data.

At the bottom right corner of the hoarding is an asterisk which reads “DU Pulse Poll- By the CommSense”, suggesting that CommSense is the name of the agency which conducted the opinion poll.

However, no amount of internet searches yielded any results on an agency with such a name. Moreover, student leaders of CYSS themselves sounded confused and unaware of who had conducted the polls, only referring to it as a “third party” and an “independent agency”.

Incidentally, although the advertisement is not issued in the name of the AAP or the CYSS, the latter accepted that it was funded and put up by the party.

“We have put up these hoardings in and around North Campus which show that the CYSS will win. I am not aware of the name of the company which conducted the polls. It was done by some independent agency,” said CYSS state president Anupam Yadav.

One of the administrators of the organisation’s Facebook page, Abhash Chandela, who shared an image of the hoarding, said there was no harm in publicising results of an opinion poll. But he said he didn’t check the source before doing so.

“I don’t understand what the problem is. If some third party has conducted a survey which favours our chances then why can’t we put it up,” he said.

Student organisations, however, are up in arms against not just the “fake” poll but also the amount of money spent on publicising it.

“They have put up all these hoardings in MCD areas, where the charges are very high. If indeed such an opinion poll took place, they should have declared the sample size. No one was seen on campus conducting these polls,” said ABVP state secretary Saket Bahuguna.

All India Students’ Association (AISA) state president Anmol Ratan and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) state committee member Prashant Mukherjee also came out strongly against CYSS’s “gimmicks”.

Mukherjee has said that the SFI is likely to go to court on the matter.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.