THRISSUR: KSU state president Aloshious Xavier launched a hunger strike on Friday demanding re-election to the students’ union chairperson’s post at Sree Kerala Varma College. Alleging intervention by Higher Education Minister R Bindu to help the SFI, Xavier also demanded a probe into it. Meanwhile, M K Sudarshan, the president of the Cochin Devaswom Board which manages the college, said he had called Sobha, the principal in-charge, on the day of recounting and asked her to do whatever was right as per norms.
The election to the college union on November 1 kicked up a row when KSU and SFI, after counting of votes, claimed their respective candidates had bagged the chairperson post. As the clash intensified, a recounting was ordered. There were several power outages while recounting was going on. KSU accused Sudarshan of calling Sobha and telling her to continue the recount amid power cuts. This was done to aid SFI, they claimed.
However, Sudarshan said he received several calls from faculty members and students saying attempts were being made to stop the recounting, and that there were chances of violence on campus.
“I called the principal in-charge Sobha. When asked why the recounting was stopped, she said it was due to power failure. However, returning officer, during the same call, said no written complaint about the recounting was received and hence, it could not be postponed.
So, I advised the principal in-charge to stick to the election norms of Calicut University,” he said. Meanwhile, KSU moved the High Court on Friday seeking re-election to the chairman post.