Victory celebrations at Scottish Church. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

The Asutosh model is to college elections in the city what the Bihar model is to Assembly polls in Bengal.

Lalbazar on Monday clamped Section 144 of the CrPC for the second campus election in less than a month, turning Scottish Church College in Hedua into a fortress just like it did to Asutosh College on January 21.

Over 100 police personnel, including an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner, two assistant commissioners and six officers-in-charge of police stations, kept vigil outside the campus while polling was being conducted inside.

No outsider was allowed to stop at Urquhart Square, the road facing the main gate of the college. Cops were also deployed at the crossing of Bidhan Sarani and Abhedananda Road, on Duff Street and Sisir Bhaduri Sarani.

Student Rishab Goswami said he was surprised to see such a large police contingent outside the campus when he went to vote in the first hour of polling. “They were not allowing anybody to even step on the road in front of our college without checking his or her identity card,” Rishab said.

While the cops kept things tight outside, college teachers made sure students didn’t loiter within the campus after voting.

By the time the results had started coming in — the Students’ Federation of India won 34 of the 36 seats at stake — the police had barricaded Abhedananda Road to ensure that the celebrations didn’t get out of hand.

The Scottish Church management had made no official request for security but the police apparently didn’t want to take any chances ahead of the battle for Writers’ Buildings.

“We didn’t feel the need to ask for police cover because our institution has a clean record when it comes to union elections. But we can’t stop the cops from keeping an eye on the poll process,” principal John Abraham had told Metro before the election.

Joint commissioner (headquarters) Jawed Shamim said the level of security might not be the same for every college but Lalbazar would have a strong presence on every poll-bound campus this year.

“How much security is required will be decided on the basis of where the college is located and whether there has been any kind of trouble in the run-up to the poll,” he added.

Presidency University and Jadavpur University, both known to be the hotbed of student politics, are due to hold union elections next month.

At Asutosh, as many as 200 police personnel had stood guard under the supervision of two deputy commissioners, 10 inspectors and 40 sub-inspectors. A unit of the Rapid Action Force was also requisitioned.

A senior police officer in South 24-Parganas said the security bandobast for next month’s election at Jadavpur University was set to be strong without being obtrusive. “We will enter the campus only if the authorities make a request,” he added.

The student wings of the CPM and Trinamul have differing views on the police’s role in union elections.

“We don’t have a problem with the police trying to stop outsiders from meddling in campus elections. But they should be careful not to curb the rights of students,” said Dhrubajyoti Chakroborty, the assistant secretary of the CPM-affiliated SFI’s state committee.

“It’s a shame that college union elections have to be held under the glare of the police. We don’t think the cops will be impartial; after all, they are stooges of the CPM,” alleged Shanku Deb Panda, the president of the Trinamul’s student wing.

Asutosh College had set the tone for heavy-duty policing of campus elections after a clash on December 16 claimed a student’s eye.