More than 1.3 lakh students of both the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University started casting their votes on Friday morning to elect their representatives. Students from 51 colleges are voting to choose the president, vice president, secretary and general secretary of the DU Students' Union, while voting is underway to select the next president, vice president, secretary and joint secretary of the JNU Students' Union.

The Students' Federation of India and All India Students' Association are contesting the JNU polls jointly. They aim to keep the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad from winning a seat in JNUSU. The alliance was formed after Kanhaiya Kumar's All India Students' Federation said it would not take part in the elections this year, but the group is supporting the joint effort.

There are 18 candidates contesting the JNU polls, which are likely to be closely watched this year, given the controversy the university was embroiled. Kumar was arrested on sedition charges for allegedly raising "anti-national" slogans at an event on campus on February 9.

At DU, the 17 candidates in the fray are from the ABVP, AISA and the National Students' Union of India, which is the Congress' student wing. ABVP, which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, won the DU student elections the past three years.

The DU election results are expected to be announced on Saturday, September 10, while the JNUSU results are likely to be out on Monday.

Corrections and clarifications: This story has been edited to remove an error that misstated that the ABVP was the Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing.