Trinamool's student wing complains to Election Commission

Kolkata, March 29 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress' student wing Saturday complained to the Election Commission (EC) over Presidency University allowing a referendum by students seeking removal of Sugata Bose from the chairmanship of the varsity's Mentor Group.

Bose who has been fielded by the Trinamool from the Jadavpur constituency Friday lost the referendum with a majority of students voting against his continuance citing his political affiliation.

Trinamool Chhatra Parishad chief Shankudeb Panda alleged that the referendum was conducted on the insistence of Maoists and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and tantamount to gross violation of model code of conduct.

"EC guidelines prohibit use of any educational institution for the political campaigning but the registrar in connivance with Maoists and the CPI-M held the referendum which is a gross violation of MCC," Panda said after lodging a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer here.

"We will approach the EC in the Delhi and urge that the registrar is removed for violating the MCC," added Panda.

In a polling exercise spanning Thursday and Friday, out of a total of 2,135 students at the university, 1,541 cast their votes for the two options on whether he should resign or not.

A staggering 1,208 of those votes were in favour of the chairperson quitting, while only 316 wanted Bose to stay as the head.

The result which has been conveyed to Bose, but it will not be binding on the authorities as it only reflects the choice of the students.

West Bengal Higher Education Minister Bratya Basu has also criticised the referendum calling it "unconstitutional".