The Students Federation of India (SFI) won the election to the chairman post of Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, in the recounting held on Saturday following a directive of the Kerala High Court.
SFI candidate K.S. Aniruddhan was declared winner by three votes over Kerala Students Union (KSU) candidate S. Sreekuttan. While Aniruddhan got 892 votes, Sreekuttan got 889 votes.
In the election held on November 1, the KSU candidate was declared winner by one vote. However, in a recounting held later on the demand of the SFI, Aniruddhan was declared winner by 11 votes.
The KSU candidate moved the High Court demanding repolling alleging malpractice in recounting. The complainant alleged that invalid votes in the first counting were considered as valid in the recounting.
Justice T.R. Ravi ordered recounting of votes after cancelling the result in which SFI candidate was declared winner. The High Court observed that the counting and recounting held earlier did not follow the guidelines.
The counting on Saturday was held amid tight police security in the Principal’s room. The entire process was videographed.
The controversy over the college union elections drew wide political attention in the State. The Congress leadership, which condemned the alleged malpractice in the election, took protest rallies to the college. KSU president Aloysius Xavier had observed a hunger strike demanding repolling.
