EVMs used in DUSU polls may have been procured privately : Election Commission
New Delhi: The Delhi Election Commission on Thursday said that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls do not belong to it and appear to have been procured privately by the university.
The clarification came following reports in the media concerning "glitches" in EVMs which led the authorities to stop the counting process for some time.
"With reference to the caption being shown in some news channels regarding use of EVMs in the elections of DUSU...it is to inform that the EVMs in question is not of Election Commission," the Delhi poll panel said in a communication to an official of the Election Commission of India.
It said that "no such EVMs have been allotted/ issued to Delhi University by this office".
In its clarification, the Commission also said: "It was also confirmed from the State Election Commission that no such machines have been given by them, too."
"It seems that the Delhi University had procured these machines privately."
The Commission said a detailed report in this regard will be sent subsequently as all officials of the Delhi University are currently busy in the election process.
Counting for the DUSU polls was stopped by the election committee due to a "glitch in EVMs" following which supporters of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS)-All India Students' Association (AISA) alliance raised slogans against the university authorities demanding resumption of counting.
An official from the Delhi University's election committee confirmed that the EVMs for the DUSU polls were procured from a private vendor as the Delhi Election Commission refused to allot them the machines.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
