Delhi University's Community Radio will offer a platform to candidates contesting various posts of Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) to use the medium to reach a wider audience.
"The university has decided to allow the broadcast of speeches by respective candidates on its Community Radio 90.4 MHz for campaigning," DS Rawat, Chief Election Commissioner for DUSU polls said.
The maximum time allotted for each speech shall be five minutes. The speech shall be vetted, and edited if necessary, by a committee comprising Chief Election Officer, Chief Returning Officer and Returning Officer.
"The speech for each post shall be broadcasted according to the alphabetical order of the names of contestants for each posts. The broadcast will be from September 8 to 10, depending upon the availability of time slots and the same shall be repeated too," Rawat said.
With campaign moves of the candidates being scrutinised according to the Lyngdoh committee recommendations, the opportunity to address the varsity students through Community radio is a 'lucrative' one for them.
"Its a lucrative opportunity as the candidates will get to convey their messages to a larger audience at a time. However, the duration of five minutes is too less," said NSUI spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey.
ABVP National Secretary Rohit Chahal said, "It takes time to physically go to each of the colleges and a candidate gets to meet a bunch of students. Since, the rules don't permit campaigning on commercial FM channels, doing it through community radio is a good option."
The CEO, however said, "the permissible duration of the speeches can be revised if the varsity receives requests from majority of candidates."
Delhi University's Community Radio (DUCR), which started operating in 2007 is available on the frequency 90.4 MHz and has a radius of 10 km.
Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections are scheduled for September 12 and the students' wings of various political parties have intensified their campaign.
