Delhi University releases admission data to refute Rahul Gandhi's claim of caste bias

NEW DELHI: Strongly rebutting allegations by Congress member Rahul Gandhi of caste-based bias in admissions, Delhi University on Sunday released a data on student enrolment for the academic year 2025–26 through Common University Entrance Test (CUET) and urged the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha to refrain from making "unsubstantiated" statements.

"Delhi University implements all its statutory mandates in the true spirit of the Constitution of India, as clearly reflected in our transparent admission and recruitment processes," the university said in a post on X.

According to DU data for postgraduate students enrolled in the academic session 2025–26 through CUET, there were 4,022 unreserved (UR) students (38.59%), 3,115 from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category (29.88%), 1,488 Scheduled Caste (SC) students (14.27%), 614 Scheduled Tribe (ST) students (5.89%) and 1,203 from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category (11.54%). The total number of PG students enrolled was 10,442.

Data for undergraduate programmes for the academic session 2025–26 showed that 32,777 students (46.56%) were enrolled under the UR category, 17,971 (25.52%) under OBC, 10,517 (14.93%) under SC, 3,251 (4.62%) under ST and 5,879 (8.35%) under EWS. The total number of students enrolled in UG programmes stood at 70,395.

"We urge the Leader of Opposition to refrain from making unsubstantiated statements. Such remarks undermine the healthy learning environment at the university," DU said in its post.

Gandhi had made the remarks on Friday, while addressing an event in Lucknow to mark the birth anniversary of Kanshi Ram, founder of Bahujan Samaj Party.

"I had gone to Delhi University. Interview is just a way to eliminate students. They ask what your caste is, and then you fail in the interview," Gandhi had said.

Responding to the allegations, DU had on Saturday said that the university admits students primarily based on CUET scores, and that the standard admission process does not mandate interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

In its post on Sunday, DU also shared data on appointments of teachers, including librarians and physical education staff, from 2021 to March 15, 2025.

During this period, according to the data, 2,123 appointments (41.99%) were made under the UR category, 717 (14.18%) under SC, 349 (6.90%) under ST, 1,282 (25.35%) under OBC, 422 (8.35%) under EWS and 163 (3.22%) under the PwD category. The total number of recruitments stood at 5,056. PTI