Mamata Banerjee, who often takes pride in saying that her political career began from the college campus, leads a state whose colleges and varsities have not been holding student union polls since 2017.

The absence of college and university elections — a once vibrant, annual campus event — has resurfaced as a concern as protesting junior doctors, currently on an indefinite hunger strike, have demanded that student elections be held as soon as possible.

These medics specifically urged the state government to announce the dates for campus elections, which select students’ representatives to the governing bodies of educational institutions.

Despite the Trinamool Congress sweeping one election after another in Bengal — from rural and civic bodies to state and parliamentary ones — the ruling party has been avoiding students’ union elections for the past seven years.

“Campus politics is essential as it paves the way for young leaders to enter politics. Not only Mamata, but also prominent leaders like former chief minister, the late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Left Front chairman Biman Bose, and countless others who play key roles in Bengal’s politics today, emerged through campus politics,” said a political observer.

While medical students want immediate elections, the same demand has persisted for the past seven years across hundreds of degree colleges and 45 universities in the state.

A source in the ruling TMC claimed that the decision to avoid elections on campuses was motivated by concerns over potential clashes and violence in educational institutions and political strategy, with the government receiving intelligence that such incidents could recur.

“The government initially planned to hold students’ union elections in 2019. However, after the BJP won an unprecedented 18 out of 42 seats in the general elections, the campus elections were delayed as a political strategy. Existing unions were dissolved, and local leaders or former student leaders took control. Later, the elections were simply not held,” said the source.

According to the source, when the pandemic hit in 2020, the entire election process was halted, and no efforts were made to resume it after restrictions were lifted.

Colleges charge fees for student welfare and cultural events during admissions or readmissions. These funds are typically managed by elected students’ unions after passing resolutions in the governing bodies. Since there are no elected unions, a few local TMC leaders or former student leaders have taken control of these funds.

The Students Federation of India (SFI), which used to win over 85 per cent of student unions in the state during the Left Front’s tenure, attributed the lack of elections to two reasons.

“First, the ruling TMC fears that students will overwhelmingly vote against them, exposing the fact that the youth no longer supports them. Second, the
party wants to protect local leaders who are profiting through corruption by maintaining illegal control over students’ unions,” said Dipsita Dhar, SFI’s national joint secretary.

A leader of the SFI said the other potent reason for not holding the elections is the fear of the ruling party leadership that it might trigger intra-party clashes as local MPs, MLAs and block level leaders have their stake in college polls.

“Even students’ union polls are micro-managed by ruling party MPs, MLAs and district leaders. To avoid exposure of the ugly and violent side of ruling party factionalism, college polls have become a casualty,” the SFI leader said.

Trinankur Bhattacharya, the president of the TMCP, countered that elections were not held due to the Covid pandemic and that the delay was also related to the transition to a semester-based education system.

“We also want free and fair elections on campus. However, the government needs to restructure the election process due to the new semester system. We hope elections are held soon,” said Bhattacharya.

On August 28, during the TMCP’s foundation day celebration, Mamata instructed education minister Bratya Basu to prepare for campus elections after Durga Puja, admitting the need to restructure the election system because of the semester system.