College principals concerned about hooliganism making a comeback on poll-bound campuses have called for a “uniform election code” and an all-party meeting to find ways to keep politics away from the classroom.

“Academic activities in most colleges have suffered because of the ugly turf war between the Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad and the CPM-affiliated Students’ Federation of India (SFI). This trend needs to be nipped in the bud,” a signatory to the principals’ memorandum told Metro.

Tuesday’s student election at Asutosh College was held under unprecedented police security to prevent a rerun of the violence that rocked three other campuses in town last Friday. Two thoroughfares in the vicinity of the Hazra college — Basanta Bose Road and Rajeswar Dasgupta Road — were closed to traffic for the duration of the poll.

Before polling started, police personnel used microphones to announce that all students should carry their identity cards to be allowed in. “The police contingent ensured that outsiders couldn’t trigger trouble on the campus, and we are grateful for that,” said Dipak Kar, the principal of Asutosh College.

The poll scoreline? SFI 19 versus 3 for the two Chhatra Parishads.

According to a lecturer of the institution, he had never before seen thoroughfares being cordoned off during a college election.

Similar arrangements have been planned for elections at Behala College, Sarsuna College, Maheshtala College, Budge Budge College, Raidighi College, Patharpratima College and Manindra College over the next few days, starting Wednesday.

“We are not taking chances this time,” said Jawed Shamim, the joint commissioner of police (headquarters).

Anjan Sengupta, the general secretary of the All Bengal Principals’ Council, said student unrest fuelled by political rivalry was getting out of hand. “It is time for the administration to sit with people of different ideologies and take suitable measures to prevent clashes in colleges. The primary objective of a college is to offer education, not a political stage,” he added.

The college heads have also written to Calcutta University to formulate a uniform code for student elections.

As of now, college elections are held according to the rules framed by the governing bodies of these institutions. The drawback of such a system is that the rules keep changing, depending on the interests of the governing body.

“One of the primary causes of campus clashes is the lack of a uniform policy or code for student elections. It would have been easier for us to conduct the elections had the university come up with a statute applicable to every affiliated college. Students would then have to accept the rules no matter which camp they belong to,” said Sukomal Dutta, the principal of Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, outside which bombs were hurled and bullets fired during Friday’s clash.

Dhrubojyoti Chatterjee, the pro vice-chancellor (academic) of Calcutta University, confirmed receiving requests from principals to frame a uniform code for college elections. “However, we can introduce the uniform code only if the principals arrive at a consensus on the subject and submit a formal application,” he added.

Principals’ representative Sengupta warned of a “further drop” in the success rates of CU’s undergraduate examinations next year if political unrest on campuses continued. The results of the BA and BSc Part-I and Part-II examinations declared last month had showed a three to seven per cent dip in the overall pass percentage from last year.