KANNUR: On a day marked by intense clashes and heightened tensions, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) secured a resounding victory in the Kannur University union elections. By registering its 26th consecutive win, the SFI reaffirmed its long-standing dominance of the university’s student politics.
The left student body secured victory in all five general seats, along with the Kannur executive seat.
The United Democratic Students’ Front (UDSF), an alliance of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and the Muslim Students Federation, secured the executive seat in Wayanad through a toss of the coin — after a tie of three votes — and also emerged victorious in the Kasaragod executive seat, which SFI lost by a vote.
SFI members Nandaj Babu and Kavitha Krishnan were elected chairperson and secretary respectively of the university union. Both of them secured victory by a 37-vote margin, from the total 117 votes. Two votes were declared invalid in the election of the chairperson. Violence erupted on the Thavakkara campus of the university between members of the UDSF and the SFI, which prompted police intervention. It was triggered when UDSF members alleged that SFI activists had abducted one of the university union convenors (UUC) from Kasaragod.
Tensions intensified after KSU and MSF activists claimed that a female SFI candidate had forcibly snatched a ballot paper during the election process.
Contradicting UDSF allegations, the UUC who was reportedly kidnapped later released a video stating that he was not abducted and had gone to Karnataka for personal reasons.