The Thrissur District committee of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) is gearing up to file a petition with the Kerala High Court, seeking a re-election for the chairperson’s position at Sree Kerala Varma College in Thrissur. During a recent press conference at the DCC Office, district president of the union, Gokul Guruvayur, expressed the union’s concern. He stated, “KSU’s chairperson candidate S Sreekuttan actually won the election. However, SFI and the pro-Left college teachers’ association members present at the recounting overturned the students’ verdict in SFI’s favor.”
Sreekuttan, a visually-impaired final year political science student who was present at the press conference, highlighted the unusual circumstances during the recounting process. He mentioned that the number of ballots seemed to increase during the recounting, and there were two power failures at the counting center on Wednesday evening.
The KSU leaders have not remained silent in the face of these allegations. They have expressed their intention to organize a protest march to the Cochin Devaswom Board, responsible for the administration of Kerala Varma College. Furthermore, they have lodged a complaint with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calicut, citing irregularities in the conduct of the elections.
The election results were initially believed to favor Sreekuttan, with reports indicating that he had secured 896 votes, edging out the SFI candidate. This victory marked a significant shift, as it had been 41 years since KSU had last won the chairperson post at Kerala Varma College, traditionally a stronghold of the SFI.
However, the situation took a different turn when SFI activists demanded a recount of the votes. Initially cooperating with the recounting process, KSU workers eventually walked out, claiming discrepancies. According to KSU activists, the election returning officer had declared ‘valid ballots’ in favor of Sreekuttan as ‘invalid votes.’ Subsequently, SFI candidate KS Anirudhan was declared the winner with a margin of 11 votes at 12:30 am on Thursday.
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