'Only these students submitted nominations. Nobody else filed nominations.'

That one sentence from Government Sanskrit College, Tripunithura, captures the crucial detail behind the headline-making claim that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has swept all 12 seats of the college union.

The college has around 130 students. This year, candidates backed by the ABVP were the only ones to file nominations for all 12 posts.

Neither the Students' Federation of India (SFI) nor the Congress-affiliated Kerala Students Union (KSU) fielded candidates.

So, while ABVP is set to occupy all 12 positions, there was no electoral contest this year.

The formal declaration is scheduled for September 29, when college union elections under Mahatma Gandhi University are due to be held. The college, affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, conducts its union elections according to the university's rules.

The distinction matters because the development has been widely presented as ABVP breaking an SFI stronghold.

The political history of the campus does make the shift noteworthy, but this year's 12-seat outcome did not come through a head-to-head contest with SFI or KSU.

What happened at Tripunithura?

Government Sanskrit College is a small and specialised institution, with its student strength currently standing at around 130, according to principal Dr Saritha Maheswaran.

The campus had traditionally seen a strong SFI presence But the political balance had already begun changing before this year's nominations.

Last year, the union election was contested, and ABVP won 10 of the 12 positions. SFI candidates secured the remaining two posts, both class representative positions.

This year, however, the contest disappeared altogether.

'When nominations were invited, only these students submitted nominations. Nobody else filed nominations,' Dr Maheswaran told NDTV.

She also made clear that the college administration does not involve itself in students' political activities.

The nomination deadline ended on September 17. With no candidates from SFI or KSU entering the fray, ABVP candidates became the sole nominees for the 12 positions.

The college's size is also an important part of the story.

With only around 130 students, the pool of eligible candidates for individual union positions is naturally limited. Eligibility conditions linked to a student's year of study can narrow that pool further.

Not a repeat of last year's contest

ABVP state secretary Yedhu Krishnan confirmed that no other student organisation had filed nominations this year.

For ABVP, the development is being projected as evidence of a growing presence on Kerala campuses.

Krishnan also said the organisation expects similar gains in two colleges in Kannur district But the Tripunithura numbers show a more complicated progression than a sudden electoral takeover.

ABVP had already secured 10 of the 12 posts in last year's contested election.

This year's result therefore takes the organisation from a clear majority to all 12 positions, but without opposition candidates on the ballot.

That makes the nature of this year's outcome materially different from an election in which ABVP defeated SFI or KSU candidates through voting.

SFI's explanation is also different from the narrative of a campus-wide political realignment.

SFI state secretary PS Sanjeev said the organisation had not given significant organisational attention to the college because of its very small student population.

He argued that ABVP's wider relevance in Kerala's colleges remains limited outside certain pockets, particularly Kannur and Kasaragod.

SFI has pointed to its performance in the recently concluded Kerala University college union elections.

According to figures provided by the organisation, it won 29 of 31 unions in Thiruvananthapuram, 12 of 18 in Kollam, all 18 in Alappuzha and three of four in Pathanamthitta, amounting to 62 of the 71 unions it cited.

Those figures are SFI's own tally. They also concern a different group of colleges from those affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University, making a direct comparison with the Tripunithura result inappropriate.

Why the college's size matters

The political significance attached to the result sits against the unusual character of the institution itself.

Government Sanskrit College, Tripunithura, was established on January 14, 1914, by Sri Rama Varma, the erstwhile King of Cochin, with the objective of preserving and advancing higher Sanskrit learning.

Its origins lie in a period when traditional Sanskrit education was losing ground as modern education expanded.

The institution initially offered advanced instruction in subjects including Vyakarana, Nyaya and Vedanta. Ayurveda and Jyothisha were later introduced in 1926.

Over the years, the college developed specialised departments covering areas such as Jyothisha, Nyaya, Sahitya, Vedanta and Vyakarana.

It also houses a manuscript library containing rare material that, according to the institution's records, has been studied by scholars from India and abroad.

More than a century after its establishment, however, the college remains a small campus.

That demographic reality is central to understanding this year's union election.

The college does not have the large student electorate found in Kerala's conventional arts and science institutions. Its specialised academic character and limited intake have kept its student population comparatively low.

Dr Maheswaran said the college has, in some years, sought additional seats from the university, with increases permitted for particular years.

The headline versus the ballot

The Tripunithura episode is therefore less straightforward than a simple 'ABVP defeats SFI' narrative.

There is a genuine political shift on the campus. ABVP went from winning 10 of 12 posts in a contested election last year to securing nominations for all 12 positions this year.

At the same time, SFI, which had a longstanding presence at the college, did not field candidates this time, and neither did KSU.

The result, once formally declared, will give ABVP all 12 positions. But it will not represent a 12-seat electoral defeat of SFI this year.

The distinction is important because an uncontested victory and a victory after a ballot battle describe two very different electoral outcomes.

At a 112-year-old Sanskrit college with around 130 students, the political story is therefore not simply about who won 12 seats. It is also about why only one organisation chose to contest them.