Kerala college principal suspended after SFI election fraud allegations  

Two days after Kerala University recommended the removal of GJ Shaiju, Principal of Christian College Kattakada, after an alleged election fraud by the Students' Federation of India (SFI) surfaced, the management suspended him from service on Monday, July 22, reports IANS.

During a syndicate meeting of the University held on Saturday, a decision was made to instruct the management to initiate the removal process. Additionally, the meeting resolved to propose a police investigation into the complete election procedure, leading to the local police registering cases against Shaiju and Vishak, the prominent leader of SFI.

It is worth mentioning that Vishak did not participate in the election, but his name was included in the list of the two councillors who emerged victorious, replacing the name of Anekha, the SFI member who won in the counsellor elections.

Initially, it was said that Anekha had resigned, hence the name of Vishak was included and sent to the University. And when the fraud surfaced, Shaiju informed the University that there was an error. The Congress-led opposition and the BJP highlighted the issue.

Candidates, who win as councillors from the colleges affiliated with Kerala University, then vote to elect the Kerala University Union. When the Christian College Kattakada sent its list of councillors, the name of Vishak, who even did not contest the election, appeared instead of Anekha.

This case had dented the image of the CPI(M) and the SFI, and it surfaced on the eve of the Pinarayi Vijayan government celebrating its second anniversary.

It has come to light that the 'fraud' took place with the blessings of two party legislators, one leading a section of the CPI(M) in the locality and the other who was opposed to this and took up this issue in the party.

The CPI(M) has asked both legislators to be silent and the party has now formed a two-member committee to probe the issue.