SFI candidate declared elected after recounting of votes at govt-aided college in Kerala

The chairman candidate of the Students' Federation of India was declared elected on Saturday after a recount of votes, as directed by the Kerala High Court, for the students' union election at a government-aided college here.

College authorities said SFI's K S Anirudhan defeated Kerala Students Union candidate Sreekuttan by three votes.

The Kerala High Court had on Tuesday set aside the election conducted for the post of chairman of the students' union at the Sree Kerala Varma College in Thrissur, where a nominee of the SFI was earlier declared elected after a recount.

The court had ordered a fresh recount of the votes, in accordance with procedure on Saturday. The SFI is the student wing of the ruling CPI(M) and the KSU is part of the Congress.

Reacting to the victory, the SFI today said it was a befitting reply to the lies and the smear campaign against the Left students organisation.

The court had given the direction for recounting on a plea filed by the KSU, which sought re-election to the post of chairman of the college union, alleging sabotage by SFI.

In its order, the court had said that the initial counting and the recounting of votes had not been carried out in accordance with prescribed procedure. However, it had rejected KSU's prayer for a re-election.

The court had earlier refused to stay the results of the students' union election in which the SFI nominee was declared chairman after votes were recounted at midnight.

The Sree Kerala Varma College witnessed dramatic scenes on November 1 as the KSU alleged that after its candidate had won the chairman election by one vote, the Left students' organisation meddled with a recount of votes to ensure the victory of its contestant.

The SFI activists had demanded a recount of votes, which the management eventually agreed to.

Though a recount of votes was held in the evening, it was stopped midway following a protest by KSU activists. They alleged that the returning officer was a leader of a pro-Left union.

When the result of the recount was announced at midnight, SFI's chairman candidate Anirudhan was declared the winner by a margin of 11 votes. Not satisfied with the result, the KSU moved to the high court.

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