On Tuesday, November 28, the Kerala High Court set aside the election conducted for the post of chairman of the students' union at Sree Kerala Varma College, and directed the authorities to carry out a fresh recount of the votes, in accordance with procedure. The court was hearing a plea seeking re-election.
A nominee of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) was declared elected after a recount in the college polls, held recently. A plea was then filed by the Kerala Students' Union (KSU), the student wing of Congress in the state, alleging sabotage by SFI, the student organisation of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), as per a report by PTI.
Justice TR Ravi presided over the hearing. In its order, the court observed that the initial counting and the recounting of votes had not been carried out in accordance with the prescribed procedure. However, it rejected KSU's prayer for a re-election.
"The entire voting is over, and the dispute is only regarding the counting. In the above circumstances, what is required is a fresh counting of the votes polled for the election to the post of chairman of the college union, scrupulously following the method prescribed in the bylaws issued by the university. The prayer for a re-election is rejected," the court said.
The college is located in Thrissur. Earlier, the court had refused to stay the results of the students' union election in which the SFI nominee was declared chairman after votes were recounted at midnight.
The Sree Kerala Varma College witnessed dramatic scenes on November 1. KSU alleged that after its candidate had won the chairman election by one seat, the Left students' organisation meddled with the recounting of votes to ensure the victory of its contestant. Stung by the initial result in which KSU won, the SFI activists demanded a recount of votes, which the management eventually agreed to.
Though a recount of votes was held in the evening, it was stopped midway following a protest by KSU activists. They alleged that the returning officer was a leader of a pro-Left union. When the result of the recount was announced at midnight, SFI's chairman candidate Anirudhan was declared the winner by a margin of 11 votes.
The plea filed by the KSU in the high court had also sought a thorough investigation into the "malpractice, tampering, and sabotaging" of the election process. It had further alleged that the recounting of the election results was conducted even after multiple objections from the principal, the college management, and the student wing of the Congress, as per PTI.
