KURUKSHETRA: Five student parties declared on Sunday that they would boycott the Haryana government to conduct indirect elections at universities and colleges in the state “at any cost” and called for the process’s “complete boycott”.In a joint press conference called here, representatives of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), Dr Ambedkar Students Front of India (DASFI), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Ambedkar Students Welfare Association (ASWA) and some more student bodies from Kurukshetra University said the Haryana government wanted to lay the ground for ABVP’s victorying educational institutes of Haryana with the help of indirect elections. “We will never allow this to happen,” they said in a statement released at the conference.The student wing of the ruling BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), is the only outfit which is not opposing the indirect elections scheduled for this Wednesday.Students elections are being conducted after 22 years in Haryana, but the state government’s decision to hold indirect polls , instead of direct ones, has met with strong opposition from student parties. Following a protest on Thursday, 10 student leaders from Kurukshetra were booked for rioting and obstructing government officials, but the charges were dropped on the orders of the judicial magistrate and the students were released on bail. Though INLD has disbanded INSO, a former leader of the party, Jaswinder Khaira, said they “strongly condemn” the cane charge on protesting students in Rohtak and Kurukshetra. “We have decided that no parties will nominate their candidates for these elections and those candidates who have filled nominations independently, are being asked to withdraw their names. A campaign throughout the campus will be run to spread awareness among students,” he said.Divanshu Budhiraja of the NSUI said they would not allow the elections to happen. “The CM Manohar Lal Khattar government may call the police, but the elections will be completely boycotted,” he said.Shahnawaz of SFI said the cane charge on students was a pre-planned move of the government to suppress the voice of students. “But we will give a befitting reply to this; nobody will participate in these elections,” he said.Favour direct polls, but won’t protest: ABVPABVP state executive member Gaurav Saini said though their party was in favour of holding direct elections, they would not oppose the state government’s decision to hold indirect polls as the process had been restarted in the state after 22 years. “Elections should be, ideally, conducted as per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee, but these elections are being conducted as per guidelines of Tankeshwar Committee. If the elections are being conducted after a long time, they have be indirect,” he said.

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