Student leaders give a campus vibe for local body elections in Kerala

Student power, in all colours, is flying high in the ongoing local body elections in the State with political parties fielding a considerable number of candidates from their campus wings, marking a significant change in poll traditions.

The CPI(M) has fielded 48 leaders of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in the polls while the Congress has found 79 candidates from the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU). The Muslim Students Federation (MSF) of the Indian Union Muslim League has fielded 47 leaders, while 14 from the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), the CPI’s student wing, are also in the fray.

The student wings say they have all been given due consideration by their party leaderships this time compared to previous polls. Among the student leaders, KSU Thiruvananthapuram district vice-president Vyshna Suresh’s candidature has already grabbed wide attention following the controversy over her voting right which she had to get reinstated through a High Court intervention amid her campaign.

Of the 79 candidates from the KSU, 22 are its State office-bearers. KSU’s State leaders in the fray include general secretaries Mubas Odakkaly and Arunima M. Kurup, the latter being one of the two transgender candidates of the Congress.

KSU leaders have been given tickets in nine district panchayat divisions, 29 block panchayat divisions, and 31 grama panchayat wards. Among them are four district presidents of the organisation.

KSU State president Aloshious Xavier said that in the previous local body polls, tickets were given to only 23 from the student wing. “We consider the rise in the number this time as an acknowledgement for the electoral gains the KSU has made in the campus elections over the past few years,” he said. Mr. Xavier said that the leadership of the KSU had placed its demand for due consideration in candidate selection to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and the District Congress Committees as the number of seats allotted to his colleagues was low in the initial stages of electoral talks.

‘No pressure tactics’

Leaders of the SFI and AISF, meanwhile, said that they did not have to play any pressure tactics to be considered in candidate selection as it was against the norms of the Left parties. Prominent SFI leaders in the fray include its central committee member P. Thajudheen and State joint secretary Syed Muhammed Sadik, both contesting to the Kozhikode district panchayat. SFI leaders are contesting in nine district panchayat divisions, 14 block panchayat divisions, 29 grama panchayat wards, five municipal wards and one corporation ward. SFI State president M. Sivaprasad said the organisation will be highlighting the LDF government’s achievements in the education sector during the campaign.

From AISF, State president Bibin Abraham is contesting as a CPI candidate in Pathanamthitta district panchayat while 10 State committee members are also in the fray.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, affiliated to the RSS, meanwhile, said its office-bearers don’t contest as BJP candidates in the elections.