Finally, D-Day at Presidency

Although the counting was over by 4:30 pm, unofficial numbers showed that the Independent Consolidation (IC) and the Democratic Student’s Organisation (DSO) have together won 37 seats, a drop of one seat from last year.

The Student’s Federation of India, on the other hand, won 35 seats. “We are a little disappointed. But we are talking to some independent candidates to see if something can be worked out,” said Mayuk Biswas, president, SFI unit, Presidency College.

A IC supporter, however, said, “There are no independent candidates.”

The main gate of the college was cordoned off with rope barriers and a police picket was posted inside and outside the main gate throughout the day. As the voting took place, all gates of the college remained closed and no student without an identity card was allowed inside.

“Overall, the polling was peaceful. About 70 per cent votes were cast,” said principal Sanjib Ghosh.

Since the college had issued a voters list, none of the contending unions cried foul. But the polling was not incident-free. Around 3:30 pm, polling was halted, as there was a minor scuffle in the BA second year constituency over disqualification of votes.

While the IC alleged that there were three voters not carrying ID cards, some IC supporters said the SFI members had tried to stop some voters from reaching the college from the Central Metro station.

This year, the election of the panel of the general secretary and other posts will be held on Thursday as against last year when the process was held one month after the polls. Then the SFI had alleged of bogus voting by the IC members. The matter then had to be probed by an investigative committee.