{"id":2131,"date":"2026-09-22T08:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/22\/nsui-member-complaints-gandhi-kumar-dusu-election\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T08:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:32:22","slug":"nsui-member-complaints-gandhi-kumar-dusu-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/22\/nsui-member-complaints-gandhi-kumar-dusu-election\/","title":{"rendered":"NSUI member raises grievances to Gandhi family over Kanhaiya Kumar&#8217;s leadership after DUSU defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>New Delhi \u2013 In the days following the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections, an unnamed member of the Congress student wing, the National Students\u2019 Union of India (NSUI), approached Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with a series of complaints targeting the organisation\u2019s current leadership. The grievances focus on the conduct of Kanhaiya Kumar, the All\u2011India Congress Committee\u2019s (AICC) in\u2011charge of NSUI, and on the handling of candidate selection, campaign management and overall ground\u2011level mobilisation during the university polls.<\/p>\n<h2>Key complaints over candidate selection and campaign management<\/h2>\n<p>The NSUI activist, who requested anonymity, told ThePrint that the leadership\u2019s approach to ticket distribution and election strategy was flawed. According to the member, Kumar was rarely present on campus and made decisions in isolation, without consulting local student leaders. \u201cKanhaiya wasn\u2019t on campus, how would he know what was happening? He did not take anyone\u2019s advice, just went and made decisions on his own,\u201d the activist said.<\/p>\n<p>The most cited example involves Deepanshu Shokeen, popularly known as the \u201cbarefoot candidate.\u201d Shokeen, the son of a Delhi Transport Corporation bus conductor, was denied an NSUI ticket for the DUSU presidency and subsequently contested the vice\u2011president post as an independent. He secured 30,615 votes, winning the vice\u2011president seat, while the official NSUI candidate, Vir\u202fChatrath, finished third with just 4,313 votes. The activist alleges that the party\u2019s ticket for Chatrath had already been fixed when Shokeen expressed his desire to run for president, and that the leadership forced Shokeen to contest the vice\u2011president slot despite his earlier request.<\/p>\n<p>An NSUI functionary, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the party\u2019s ticket for Chatrath was predetermined because he is the son of a senior party leader. The functionary added that once Shokeen chose to run independently, no senior NSUI figure attempted to persuade him to re\u2011join the party or offered any support. \u201cNo one tried to retain him despite seeing his potential,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n<p>Further criticism centres on the way the leadership questioned Shokeen\u2019s financial capacity. One functionary recounted that party members repeatedly taunted Shokeen about his modest resources, noting his lack of a car and limited funds. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have money to splurge on an election\u2026 We supported him from the back, but this was incorrect,\u201d the functionary said, highlighting what they perceived as an unfair attitude toward a candidate from a humble background.<\/p>\n<h2>Other aspirants and a pattern of losses<\/h2>\n<p>Shokeen was not the only aspirant to break away from NSUI over ticket disputes. Vishesh\u202fYadav contested the joint\u2011secretary election as an independent after a disagreement with the party\u2019s selection process. Yadav garnered 15,778 votes, edging out the official NSUI candidate Gopal\u202fChoudhary, who received 15,206 votes.<\/p>\n<p>The activist\u2019s complaints are set against a broader backdrop of declining NSUI performance in DUSU elections. The party moved from winning a single post in 2023 to two in 2024, one in 2025 and none in 2026. The 2026 election marked the first time since 2015 that NSUI failed to secure any of the four central\u2011panel positions.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the election outcomes, the activist alleges that the leadership prioritises social\u2011media optics over grassroots management. The complaint notes that both NSUI president Vinod\u202fJakhar and Kanhaiya\u202fKumar were largely absent from on\u2011the\u2011ground campaigning after tickets were handed out, leading to widespread dissatisfaction among the cadre.<\/p>\n<h2>Structural concerns and calls for internal reflection<\/h2>\n<p>The grievances extend beyond the DUSU polls. According to the same source, Jakhar has not constituted the National Organising Bodies\u2014units meant to coordinate grassroots outreach\u2014despite having been in office for eight months. \u201cRegularity and involvement is really less. There is no engagement. They meet no student leaders; the national organising body hasn\u2019t been set up too,\u201d the activist told ThePrint.<\/p>\n<p>A former student\u2011body president from a Delhi University college, still affiliated with NSUI, echoed similar concerns about Kumar\u2019s lack of engagement. The former president argued that as the in\u2011charge of NSUI, Kumar should maintain regular contact with college\u2011level leaders, serving as \u201ceyes and ears\u201d for the party. \u201cIf utilised properly, we could have been his eyes and ears, but he never spoke to us. There is a massive leadership crisis,\u201d the former president said.<\/p>\n<p>In a now\u2011deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), another NSUI member wrote, \u201cWe need serious reflections over our organisation and its leadership.\u201d The sentiment underscores a growing perception of a leadership vacuum within the student wing.<\/p>\n<p>ThePrint has attempted to reach NSUI president Vinod\u202fJakhar via WhatsApp calls and texts, as well as Kanhaiya\u202fKumar through WhatsApp messages, for comment. The report will be updated if and when responses are received.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the complaints paint a picture of an organisation grappling with internal discord, a perceived disconnect between senior leadership and ground\u2011level cadres, and a series of strategic missteps that culminated in a historic electoral defeat for NSUI at Delhi University. The Gandhi family\u2019s response, if any, may shape the future direction of the party\u2019s student outreach and its approach to upcoming campus elections across the country.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An anonymous NSUI activist has written to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, citing candidate\u2011selection flaws and leadership absenteeism under Kanhaiya Kumar after the party\u2019s loss in Delhi University\u2019s student union polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[2170,2277,2171,457,2173],"class_list":["post-2131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dusu-elections","tag-kanhaiya-kumar","tag-nsui","tag-rahul-gandhi","tag-student-politics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}