New Delhi, Sep 5 - After 18 long years, the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elected an independent as its president Saturday after Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed nominees were barred from contesting for the top post for violating election norms.

Manoj Chaudhary, a student of the Department of Buddhist Studies, defeated Bajinder Singh of the All India Students Federation (AISF), affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI), by just 11 votes.

While Chaudhary got 5,391 votes, Bajinder Singh finished with 5,380 votes. The result was declared after suspense-filled hours.

'This kind of a verdict has come after a really long time,' J.M. Khurana, chief returning officer of Delhi University, told IANS.

The last independent to get elected as DUSU president was Rajiv Goswami, who set himself ablaze in 1990 to protest student quotas for backward castes. He won in 1991.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI), which are backed by the BJP and Congress respectively and which traditionally dominate DUSU, won one seat each. The joint secretary's post also went to an independent.

Kirti Wadhera (ABVP) was elected vice-president and Arshdeep Kaur of NSUI the secretary. Wadhera studies at Miranda House and Kaur is with the Law Faculty.

Anupriya Tyagi, another independent, will be the new joint secretary.