KSU breaches SFI fort in Kalamassery Women's Polytechnic after 35 years

Kochi: The Kerala Students Union (KSU), the campus wing of the Congress, on Friday swept the elections in the Women's Polytechnic, Kalamassery, ending the dominance of the CPM-backed Students Federation of India (SFI). It is the first time in the past 35 years that KSU has won all the seats on the campus.

Vaiga Nath K J, a third-year student of architecture, was elected the chairperson of the student union, while Fatima Farhath M Z won as the vice chairperson. Jyolsna E V is the new general secretary. Vaiga termed the KSU's historic win the end of SFI's despotism on campus.

"Our campaign focussed on the need for a change, and the students took up our message," Vaiga said, admitting that the sweeping win was a surprise. The polling and the counting of votes were held on Friday.

She said the KSU could earn the students' support with interventions like reopening the campus' rest room', which had been shut for long, and questioning the inordinate delay in publishing the college magazine.

Asked about her political background, Vaiga said her maternal grandmother, Sindhu, is the vice president of Congress' Edathala block committee. Her father, Jinu Nath, is a bus driver, and a video of him congratulating his daughter amid the KSU celebrations has gone viral.

Rebuilding efforts bringing results: KSU
KSU state president Aloysius Xavier said the election win was a sign of the organisation's efforts to rebuild itself. "We have been focussing on strengthening the organisation across campuses in the state with a slew of measures. The steps we have taken include conducting organisational workshops wherein our members are given training in election procedures, setting campaign narratives and addressing issues. Our focus is to infuse confidence among our supporters by winning elections," Aloysius said. He said the efforts had started showing results last year itself, with KSU winning 93 college unions in the state, many of them after a long period.