The Tribhuvan University has agreed to postpone the date of Free Student Union election after 18 student unions warned of boycotting the poll that was set for May 28.

Eighteen unions led by the UCPN (Maoist)-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary have been carrying out protests, demanding cancellation of the election. They have blamed the TU administration of working in favour of the student bodies that represent the ruling parties— Nepali Congress and CPN-UML— and announcing the election date under their pressure. The TU Executive Council had announced the date for FSU poll two weeks ago.

“There is no problem in postponing the election date if that leads to a consensus among the student unions,” said Ganga Bahadur Thapa, chief at Department of Student Welfare and Sports at TU.

Sarad Rasaili, chairman of CPN-Maoist backed All Nepal Independent Student Union (Revolutionary), said they could not accept the election date that was announced by the TU without consulting them. “That does not mean we are not against the election. The TU should announce another date to the convenience of all student unions,” Thapa said.

Representatives from the TU and the agitating student unions are set to sit for a dialogue on Friday to find out the solution of the problem.

The biennial election has been deferred twice already. The poll announced for February 2012 was postponed after the student unions close to different political parties were sharply divided over its modality, as some advocated for first-past-the-post while the others were for introducing proportional system. Similarly, the election announced for June last year was cancelled as the student unions affiliated to three major parties— NC, UML and UCPN (Maoist)— were found enrolling hundreds of fake students to secure their win.

source: the kathmandu post,7 may 2014