KSU activists staged a dramatic protest at the Kerala University headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, alleging that university authorities were favouring the SFI in college union elections. Police and fire force personnel were deployed after protesters climbed the building and threatened to jump if their demands were not addressed.
A high-level student protest erupted in the Kerala University headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram on Friday when Kerala Students Union activists climbed up to the university building to protest the bias in college union elections and raise doubts over the election process of college union elections. The students say university authorities are favouring the SFI during the elections in colleges under the University of Kerala.
The demonstration made things quite tense at the university and the protesters refused to come down from the building. The activists pleaded with university officials to talk to them and address their grievances before they would end the protest, state sources said. Some of them also threatened to jump from the building if they were forced down.
But police and fire force staff arrived and put safety measures in place. Firefighters put safety nets under the building as a precautionary step. The protesters were also in talks with authorities to come down safely.
Kerala University has been accused by KSU of irregularities in the functioning of college union elections. The student organisation has particularly accused the university authorities of treating SFI with preferential treatment. These accusations are at the crux of the current agitation and they are not based on fact.
The latest protest reportedly followed earlier agitation by KSU activists against the same broader issue. The students had earlier surrounded the university Registrar, calling out on the university Registrar over what they claimed was irregular processes on election-related issues. They asked for a meeting with the Vice Chancellor and Registrar and asked for the university administration to intervene.
If the protesters did not get the response they were looking for, the agitation increased on Friday morning and a group of activists marched onto the university building. Women were among those who protested, the reports said. Their demand was for the Registrar to intervene and address the problems they had raised.
Police and fire officials were at the scene, and the police and fire personnel presence was an indication of the seriousness of the situation. In fact, the firefighters tried to prevent anyone else from falling from the building to the floor, while police and university representatives tried to talk to the protesters and control the situation without escalation.
#WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Keralam: Kerala Students' Union (KSU) activists stage a protest at the Kerala University headquarters, alleging bias by university authorities toward the SFI in college union elections. Climbing atop the university building, protesters threatened to… pic.twitter.com/ob0P3SjFcY
— ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2026
The dispute is part of a trend of tension between Kerala University and student organisations. In the past, there was some trouble between KSU and SFI after the Kerala University union election results were announced. The SFI won 35 of the 37 general seats and KSU secured two seats at the time, the newspaper said.
Kerala University has also witnessed protests by SFI activists in recent months on different issues such as examination issues and police action during demonstrations. In August, police registered a case against several SFI members after a protest in the university headquarters over alleged irregularities in LLB examination evaluation.
The latest KSU protest therefore adds to the long-standing tension between student politics and university management in Thiruvananthapuram. In the meantime, the priority of university authorities at the headquarters is to keep the students who climbed onto the building safe and bring down the standoff through negotiations.
As we move on, the issue of KSU election as per the college union will still be on the agenda and the response of Kerala University authority will be the only one of any consequence. Any further administrative decisions or official statements will determine how the dispute will play out in the coming days.
