SFI members stage sit-in at Kolkata's Presidency University for 5 days seeking student union polls

KOLKATA: Pupils of Presidency University in Kolkata have been staging a sit-in for the last five days demanding immediate conduct of student union polls and making the placement cell more active.

Around 50 members of CPI(M)'s student wing, SFI, have been staging the dharna on the campus for 117 hours till 4 pm on Monday. "We have been staging the dharna for over 117 hours, demanding immediate conduct of student union elections which have not been held for several years. This is depriving the pupils of their representatives.

"We also call for making the placement and internship cell active. It has been virtually non-functional... We demand a reply from the university management why these just demands are being overlooked," Student Federation of India's Presidency University unit’s spokesperson Bitan Islam said.

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He said that the protest is being staged to safeguard the rights of every student on the campus. The agitating students were seen raising slogans to press for their demand.

An official of the university said only the state Higher Education Department has the authority to decide on when to hold the student union polls. He claimed that the placement cell is already active and the university is facilitating the internship of students in various companies and organisations.