Ranchi, Dec. 6: A day after he was accused of bias and abused by Ajsu student members, Ranchi University vice chancellor Ramesh Kumar Pandey met governor-cum-chancellor Droupadi Murmu this morning, seeking additional security on campuses without which, he said, free and fair polls could not be conducted in colleges and at the varsity later this month.
Pandey spent half an hour apprising Murmu about yesterday's ruckus, when 50-odd student union members barged into his chamber, calling him "partial and incompetent". The governor is learnt to have sought a formal letter from him on the issue.
The controversy surrounded rejection of candidature for Ranchi College president's post. Those who suffered the axe were Ajsu candidate Ravindra Mahto, ABVP's Omi Khalkho and Vinay Kumar who filed his nomination as an independent. While the ABVP lodged a written protest, Ajsu supporters took to verbal violence.
Sources at Raj Bhavan said Pandey had requested the governor to direct respective district administrations to provide security and set up police pickets during elections in 18 affiliated colleges on December 9 and at the university headquarters in Morabadi here on December 20.
Pandey is understood to have told the governor that he is under "undue pressure" from students, as well as leaders of political parties the unions are affiliated to, to bend polling rules for them.
Sources said governor Murmu, while assuring the vice chancellor of foolproof security, asked Pandey to act tough against rogues and complete the election process without fear or favour.
"The governor is the chancellor of all state universities. Hence, it was my duty to inform her about the situation. We have sent a letter to her office, expressing our concerns. Some students behaved in a very unpleasant manner, which is not unpardonable. But, being a vice chancellor, I cannot think of jeopardising their future," Pandey told this correspondent after his meeting with Murmu.
An internal report of the varsity suggests that pre- and post-electoral ruckus may disturb the academic ambience. "Some elements are hell bent on disrupting the polling process and we are worried," admitted an RU official.
Student election results at Kolhan University, Sido Kanhu Murmu University and Vinoba Bhave University, where ABVP has had a clean sweep, have made other unions nervy, a union source said.
"To stop the BJP student wing from repeating its triumph in RU polls, student outfits backed by the Congress, JMM, JVM, Adivasi Moolvasi Chhatra Sangh and others have even formed an umbrella called the United Students' Federation," the source added.
