Chennai: Student council elections may be brought back across colleges and universities in Tamil Nadu, with political groups expecting the move to reopen campus-level electoral activity, according to reports.
The Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government is said to have received support from the CPI(M) and CPI, which are not part of the Cabinet but have placed several demands before the Chief Minister. A key demand is to conduct student council elections in all educational institutions in the state.
On May 19, representatives of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), affiliated to the CPI(M), and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-linked student organisation, met Chief Minister Vijay separately. Both groups urged that student council elections be held across institutions in Tamil Nadu.
A CPI functionary was quoted as saying that student politics played a major role historically, but student council polls were not conducted during the previous DMK regime despite repeated pressure. TVK sources, meanwhile, claimed that holding such elections would help strengthen the party’s presence within campuses and that the demands of SFI and ABVP could be met soon.
