West Bengal govt ‘positive’ about holding student union polls: State Education Minister

The West Bengal government is “positive” about holding student union elections in colleges but will decide on it only after considering schedules of college and secondary/higher secondary exams, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Monday.

He told reporters after meeting representatives of different student unions at Bikash Bhavan, education department headquarters, that the government were not against holding elections to student bodies, which had not taken place in past two years.

“We are positive about conducting student union polls but date is a problem. The exams to second semester in different higher educational institutes are slated to be held in November-December. Also elections to different municipalities and secondary/higher secondary examinations are slated in first few months of January,” the minister said.

“We will arrive at a decision after considering all these aspects. Also we need to discuss the issue with elected representatives of state legislature,” he said.

A student of Jadavpur University and member of SFI, who was present during the discussion between the minister and student unions, said “The minister did not give any concrete assurance about the time of holding polls.” He said the JU students unions, AFSU, FETSU, SFI, which have been spearheading a movement to press for holding the polls for past one and half years, will meet on Wednesday and discuss future course of action with other students, which may include resumption of sit-ins in the campus again.

JU students and Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association were opposing the move of the state government to form an apolitical student council and not conducting regular polls to elect student representatives.