DUSU Polls 2026: Hostel Safety, Fees and Student Welfare Dominate Campaign

Delhi University's student union elections are being contested against the backdrop of mounting concern over hostel conditions, fees and student safety, with the Satya Niketan building collapse earlier this month giving those issues fresh urgency.

A five-storey building operating as a private student hostel gave way in the Satya Niketan area, killing seven people. Five of the dead were Delhi University students, a toll that has sharpened debate on how students live and what protection they can expect while studying in the capital.

The tragedy has turned accommodation into a central campaign theme. Private hostels and paying-guest arrangements around the university's colleges have long housed a large share of outstation students, and questions over the safety of such premises now feature prominently in the run-up to the polls.

Alongside housing, the cost of education and student welfare remain live concerns for the electorate. Candidates are being pressed on what the union can do to address fees and the everyday pressures faced by students.

With voting approaching, the election is shaping up as a test of how far student representatives can translate these grievances into concrete demands before the university and civic authorities.