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DUSU canvassing going hi-tech

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 31. The poster war may be still on, but the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections are slowly but surely shifting towards riding on the information highway. With expenses mounting, student outfits are increasingly looking towards the power of technology to reach out to as many prospective voters as possible.

If last year saw student outfits like the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the Indian National Students' Organisation (INSO) use internet to post information about their panel on the web and give out the points of their manifestoes, this year is no different. With the total number of campaigning days being reduced to just about a week due to a number of holidays this year, student outfits have the tough job of making the most of the available time by communicating through all modes. And this time, they seem to be relying on the web and wireless technology.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vdiyarthi Parishad (ABVP) may prefer snail mail to e-mail, but as far as other student outfits go, the techno savvy image is one to be taken seriously. "Apart from being a cost effective way of reaching out to the students, internet also helps us to use a medium that the young relate to. Messaging is again a fast way of reaching out to students, although it is slightly more expensive,'' said a senior member of the NSUI.

Not everyone is convinced about the effectiveness of the medium, though. They may have tried it before, but the ABVP continues to believe in the power of direct contact to that of the indirect one.

"We have sent about 4,000 letters by post urging students to extend support to our candidates. It is not that we have not used the medium of Internet before, but as far as DUSU polls go, personal contacts have always helped more. A student responds much more to visual campaigns than a virtual one,'' feels Jatin Mohanty, ABVP's national president.

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