Elections are taking place at Students' Councils across India and the results point to a substantial electoral presence for the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student organisation associated with CPI(M), in a number of states and universities.
Students of CPI(M) obtain significant results at Council elections
The September–October results show that SFI has retained a very large organisational base in Kerala while also registering fresh or renewed victories in campuses outside its traditional strongholds.
The most important new developments are arguably Pondicherry and Hyderabad. The most recent result, at Pondicherry University, is particularly notable: SFI independently won 70 of the 111 seats contested, securing control of the Students' Council.In Pondicherry. In Hyderabad, an SFI candidate won the presidency after an alliance overturned the previous year's ABVP (associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) sweep. Kerala, meanwhile, remains the organisation's largest electoral base in the current results.
At the same time, Delhi and parts of Uttarakhand show that SFI's performance remains uneven geographically: it can win individual college positions or participate in successful alliances without necessarily controlling the principal university-wide student body.
One further development is worth watching: Karnataka has begun restoring student-union elections after a 37-year interruption, creating a potentially significant new field for organisations such as SFI and AISF (organisation associated with the Communist Party of India). The state government's September order provides for elections across government, aided and private colleges, although the first round of results is not yet part of this September–October picture.