A student clash broke out at Presidency College on Wednesday afternoon, 48 hours before the union elections.

The warring groups belonged to the CPM-backed Students’ Federation of India and the Independents’ Consolidation, an umbrella body of non-Left students. The outgoing union is controlled by the SFI.

IC members later gheraoed principal Sanjib Ghosh, demanding better security and alleging that they were being threatened by SFI supporters.

SFI state general secretary Kaustav Chatterjee, however, said: “The IC is creating trouble because they know they will lose the polls.” The Trinamul Congress, which opened its Presidency unit last year, has put up 13 candidates for class representative posts and one for the post of the girls’ common room secretary.