Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala University has recommended the removal of GJ Shaiju, the Principal of Christian College Kattakada, after an alleged election fraud by the SFI surfaced.

The decision was taken during a syndicate meeting of the University.

The meeting also decided to recommend a police probe into the entire election process.

Speaking to the media Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, Vice Chancellor of Kerala University pointed out that the responsible person who oversaw the elections has not done the right thing.

"The process is not the problem, manipulation is the problem. There will be scrutiny in all other colleges and once that's done, then only the election to elect the new Kerala University Union would be held," said VC.

The syndicate meeting has decided to inform the college management to ensure that Shaiju is removed from the post and suspended. The cost of conducting re-election too will be recovered from him, the syndicate decided. It is learned that he will not be involved in official matters for the next five years, including exam duty. 

Prima facie the principal in-charge violated the rules and the incident brought disgrace to the university, the syndicate noted. The syndicate warned that the college’s affiliation would be revoked if it failed to remove GJ Shaiju from the post. 

It has also been decided to file a case against Visakh, who has been removed from all the posts that he held in the SFI. The syndicate will entrust a panel of senior teachers to examine the UUCs list while revoking the currently submitted list.

The SFI unit at Christian College, Kattakada, has been accused of including the name of an unelected individual on the list submitted for the university union councillors (UUCs) positions.

The incident came to light after college elections took place on December 22, 2022, and SFI panel members Anakha and Aromal emerged victorious for UUC posts. However, when the list was forwarded to Kerala University for the selection of university-level office-bearers, it is claimed that SFI replaced Anakha's name with that of another student, A Visakh, who is the area secretary of the Kattakkada SFI unit.

(With inputs from IANS)