CPI-M's students bodies sweep Tripura college elections

Agartala: The student bodies affiliated to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) swept the Student Council polls in all 22 government-run degree colleges in Tripura, an official said on Wednesday.

Of the 22 colleges, candidates of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Tribal Students Union (TSU) were earlier elected unopposed in 13 Student Councils in as many colleges. Elections were thus held for only nine councils.

"Elections were held on Tuesday and results were declared late Tuesday night. The SFI and TSU candidates got a majority of the seats in all the nine councils," an official of the Education Department said.

According to the official, in contests for five seats as Class Representatives, three were won by independent candidates and one seat each went to the BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) of the Congress party.

The Student Council elections were fiercely contested, forcing the state government to deploy huge security forces in most of the colleges.

The student wing of the opposition Trinamool Congress, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, had boycotted the elections alleging misdeeds by the SFI.