Ritabrata Banerjee-led TMC faction demands immediate students’ union polls in colleges

Ritabrata Banerjee alleged that the BJP government had nominated its MPs and MLAs to college governing bodies

Published - August 29, 2026 03:16 am IST - Kolkata

Ritabrata Banerjee demanded that the government make a clear statement on whether it will conduct the students’ union election or not. File | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

West Bengal Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress group on Friday (August 28, 2026) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of not taking any initiative to hold student union elections and demanded immediate polls in all colleges and universities in the State.

“Our only demand is elections to students’ bodies in all colleges and universities, as otherwise the students’ movement will be hampered. There should also be an upper age limit for those holding the post of student leaders in the party,” he said while addressing the foundation day programme of the students’ wing of the TMC faction led by him.

Mr. Banerjee demanded that the government make a clear statement on whether it will conduct the students’ union election or not. He said that BJP must work on their promises instead of following former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

“Mamata Banerjee herself was a product of students’ union. However, she never conducted the union election. BJP came to the power by capitalising on the mistakes of the previous government. Now they must hold the students union election across the state,” he said.

Mr. Banerjee also alleged that the BJP government had nominated its MPs and MLAs to college governing bodies. He said such acts showed that the ruling party had not been able to shed the “ills” of the previous CPI(M) and Mamata Banerjee-led governments.

Student union elections in West Bengal have been in a limbo for the last five years. A PIL was also filed in the Calcutta High Court last year demanding the resumption of campus polls. While the state government stated it is willing to hold elections, it claimed that individual colleges and universities have failed to take adequate initiative. For the last two years, students of Jadavpur University staged protests demanding holding of elections, which have been withheld in the institution for five years.

Meanwhile, the High Court had directed the State government to lock up union rooms in colleges where there was no recognised student body or where student union elections had not taken place recently. It also observed that the governing bodies of higher education institutions in the State should be freed from political influence and should include renowned academicians.

While several Trinamool leaders have been part of the governing bodies of many public universities during their regime, the new BJP government, has appointed MLAs and MPs belonging to the party as presidents of governing bodies in across 247 government-aided colleges across the State.last week.

A notification issued by the West Bengal Higher Education Department pointed out that president of college governing body have been appointed for 247- state run colleges.

Some of the instances include BJP leaders being appointed as heads of college governing bodies, including Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee being appointed as the president of the governing body of East Kolkata Girls College. Minister of State for Fire Services Kaushik Chowdhury has been appointed as the head of college managing committee Raiganj B.Ed College.

Union Minister of State and Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar has been made president of the governing body of Balurghat College and Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Rathindra Bose as president of Coochbehar College among others.

State Higher Education Minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay said that there is nothing unusual in these appointments. The Minister said that those who have a bachelor’s degree have been made presidents of college governing bodies.

Published - August 29, 2026 03:16 am IST

Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.