KOCHI: Even as the Kerala Students Union (KSU) made a near-clean sweep of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) students’ union elections, the Students Federation of India (SFI), which had been in power at the varsity for the past 30 years, termed it a temporary setback. The Cusat students union elections saw KSU winning 13 out of the 15 posts.
SFI state secretary P M Arsho said such setbacks happen. “And to say the KSU has swept the elections is not correct. In the case of campus elections, wins happen by a mere five or six votes. That is true in our case too,” Arsho told TNIE.
While it has been being said that SFI has seen a slight dip in its clout among students over the years, Arsho begged to differ.
“That is not correct. Look how we have performed in the MG University and Calicut University elections. SFI won in 20 out of the 29 college union elections under Calicut University,” he said. Be it law colleges or arts and science colleges, ITIs, Polytechnics, or professional colleges, SFI has been doing well and enjoys good rapport among the students, he added.
As for losing campuses that it had been ruling for two or more years, Arsho said, “We lost many campuses that we considered prestigious. We lost the Palakkad Government Victoria College, Pattambi Government Sanskrit College, Nenmara NSS College and Trithala Pakkulam NSS College to KSU. But this year, we wrested them back,” he said, adding that even in the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) at Pookode in Wayanad, SFI won the students’ union elections.”
KVASU was in the news following the death of J S Sidharthan, a 20-year-old second-year veterinary student. The SFI branch at the university was accused of ragging
Sidharthan, and four SFI Kerala leaders were arrested on March 1. “Election to the KVASU students union was held just two days before Cusat,” said Arsho. He said the SFI is sure of winning the elections that will be held in institutions under the Kerala University for Health Sciences (KUHS).