Jadavpur University VC gheraoed for last 28 hours for union polls

Jadavpur University's governing committee earlier sent a letter to West Bengal government's education department, seeking permission to hold union polls on Feb 18, which was rejected.

The WB government has notified all universities and colleges not to host union polls in January and February.

One protester- Aritra Majumder- told IBNS, "We are demanding for students' union polls in right time. Authority has to announce the date and time of the meeting between Chancellor/Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and university's executive council members to discuss about the election, where students' representatives will also be present."

"VC and other officials can leave campus, we will not obstruct them. But our peaceful sit-in-demonstration will be continued here until the announcement," he further said.

JU VC Suranjan Das told IBNS, "I believe that the problem will be solved through discussion. We are trying to find out a solution. I will never call the police to lift gherao. Our Executive Council (EC) is trying their best to organize students' union election. We are trying to hold meeting with Chancellor Keshari Nath Tripathi, where students' representative will also be present. But we can never decide the date and time. Chancellor/Governor will fix that. I would request my student to lift your gherao."

Meanwhile, state's Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday condemned of the students' gherao and demonstration.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)