Bengal: Process to hold student union polls to start soon, says Mamata

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday promised to conduct the students’ union elections in universities and colleges in the state which is pending for several years.

 

Addressing the 27th foundation day celebration of Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the party, the chief minister said it is necessary to conduct the students’ union elections and she asked education minister Bratya Basu, who was present in the event to prepare a time table for holding the polls.

 

” I think we should now conduct the student union elections…..I will ask Bratya Basu to prepare a time table so that the polls can be conducted after Durga Pujo,” the chief minister said. She said the education system has undergone changes at the undergraduate level after the introduction of semester system replacing the annual examinations.

 

“Earlier, there used to be first year, second year and third year… The system has now changed to semesters… The elections will gradually be held in phases after Durga Pujo. Let this situation settle down and we will start the process,” the chief minister said.

 

Student union elections have not taken place in nearly 500 colleges and universities for nearly seven years. The elections to the student bodies are supposed to be held once in every two years.

 

Several student bodies had been urging the state government to conduct the polls. The demand for the polls have been made by pro- Left groups like the Student Federation of India, All India Students’ Association and even by the Trinmul Congress Chhatra Parishad. The polls had been postponed for several reasons including the universities not having permanent vice-chancellors. 

 

The opposition parties including the BJP said that the delay on the part of the government is “intentional” as the government wants to prevent anti- TMC student groups from raising their voices against the administration. Till the expiry of the student bodies in 2017, the TMCP controlled the student bodies of more than 90 per cent of the universities and colleges in the state.