The Kerala Students Union (KSU) has accused the Mahatma Gandhi University authorities of changing the voting pattern for the recently held elections to its Senate. The polls had snowballed into a controversy after activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) allegedly manhandled and hurled abusive words at a woman worker of the All India Students Federation (AISF).
KSU president K.M. Abhijith told the media on Sunday that the notification issued by the university earlier had said that the elections to 15 posts would be based on preferential voting, where those who get highest number of first votes would be chosen. However, just hours before the process began, the authorities changed the pattern to single voting, he claimed. “The real issue in Mahatma Gandhi University is not the clash between SFI and AISF activists, but an attempt to subvert democratic elections. The SFI is using their majority on campuses to suppress voices of other student organisations, including the Left-aligned AISF,” Mr. Abhijith alleged. The KSU would take out a march to the State Assembly on Tuesday to register their protest, he said.
Semester exams
Meanwhile, the KSU leader alleged that the University of Calicut was troubling undergraduate students by holding four or five of their semester exams in a short span of five months. Though the University Grants Commission had allowed universities to skip intermediate semester exams in case of emergencies, it was not being done. A march would be taken to the university building on Thursday.
Mr. Abhijith also demanded that the Education Department allot temporary batches in higher secondary schools in Malabar region to help students who are finding it difficult to get the stream and school of their choice.
