Kerala Students Union (KSU) State president Aloysius Xavior on Thursday night started an indefinite hunger strike here demanding repolling of the chairman post at Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur.
KSU chairman candidate S. Sreekuttan was initially declared winner by one vote in the college, a Left bastion for more than four decades, in the election held on Wednesday.
However, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) demanded recounting. SFI candidate K.S. Aniruddhan was declared winner by 11 votes after recounting. The KSU has been protesting since then, alleging malpractice in the counting process.
Alleging that R. Bindu, Higher Education Minister and former teacher at the college, intervened to torpedo the union election, the Congress demanded her resignation.
“The Minister, who led the episode of malpractice during recounting using the college management and teachers with Left affiliation, should resign from the post,” DCC president Jose Vallur said.
The DCC expressed solidarity with the hunger strike of Mr. Xavior.
KSU moves HC
A writ petition was filed on Friday before the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to conduct a re-election to the post of chairman of the college union of Sree Kerala Varma College.
In his petition, Mr. Sreekuttan, the KSU candidate, said he was initially declared chairman after the completion of the election. However, due to the intervention of several extraneous forces, an improper recounting was held despite objections from the Principal.
He believed that there was tampering with of ballot papers and irregular recounting. The returning officer decided to conduct the recounting after getting calls from the Cochin Devaswom Board president, the petitioner alleged.
The petition also sought a directive to the returning officer and the Vice-Chancellor of Calicut University to conduct a thorough investigation into the malpractices, and sabotaging of the election.
