Snigdha M Hari was elected chairperson and Aditya T A vice-chairperson, while Vignesh Bhatt won the general secretary’s post. Vignesh D was elected magazine editor, Anjali T arts club secretary and Nivedya K N university union councillor. The result was declared after the college union election held under Mahatma Gandhi University rules.
The outcome gives ABVP control of the principal union offices at the Ernakulam district college and marks a sharp reversal for SFI, which had long treated the campus as one of its organisational strongholds. Accounts of the result also list Shivani R and Avani C B as elected representatives in undergraduate and postgraduate categories.
Some accounts issued by ABVP and sympathetic organisations have described the result as a sweep of all 12 general seats, while other reports identify six major union posts. The six principal office-bearer positions and their winners are consistently reported, making that the clearest basis for describing the change in union control.
ABVP said the verdict reflected student dissatisfaction with the previous union. A representative of the organisation described the result as a rejection of what it called SFI’s “anti-student policies” and said the outcome would encourage ABVP units on other campuses in Kerala. Those claims represent the organisation’s political interpretation of the vote rather than an independently established explanation for student choices.
The organisation also accused earlier SFI-led unions of failing to do enough to promote Sanskrit, questioned the use of money collected from students and alleged that student programmes had been inadequate. No independently verified findings establishing those allegations were available, and no detailed response from SFI to the specific charges had been published alongside the election result.
Government Sanskrit College is affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, and says its college union elections are conducted according to university rules. The institution, based in Tripunithura, is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council with an A grade and is recognised by the University Grants Commission under Sections 2 and 12B.
The campus result follows a separate political change in Tripunithura’s municipal administration. The Bharatiya Janata Party assumed the chairperson’s office in December 2025 for the first time after emerging as the single largest group in the 53-member municipal council. P L Babu became chairperson and Radhika Varma vice-chairperson.
The BJP holds 21 seats in the municipal council, compared with 20 for the Left Democratic Front and 12 for the United Democratic Front. During the chairperson election, Babu received 21 votes in the first round, CPM nominee K T Akhiladas 20 and UDF candidate C A Shaji 12. With no candidate reaching the required majority, a second round was held; the UDF did not participate, and two LDF votes were declared invalid.
The municipal change ended a long period in which Left-led formations had controlled the civic body, though the BJP does not hold an outright majority. The college election and the municipal contest involve different electorates and institutions, and the campus result cannot by itself be treated as evidence of a wider change in voting behaviour across Tripunithura or Kerala.
The Sanskrit College result nevertheless gives ABVP an unusually prominent victory in Kerala’s competitive campus politics. SFI, affiliated with the Communist Party of India, remains a major student organisation across the state, while ABVP is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Their contests are often closely watched because student unions can serve as organisational bases for larger political movements.
The Tripunithura result also comes after ABVP had made gains at the college in the previous union election, when it secured a majority of seats rather than a complete sweep. This year’s outcome therefore consolidates an advance that had already begun on the campus, rather than representing its first electoral presence there.
