Pokhara, March 25:

The police today took the ballot boxes of the Free Students’ Union election of the Prithvi Narayan Campus under control, after the vote count could not resume even after a week of the polls.

The police took the boxes in the presence of local journalists and human rights activists at noon. The boxes have been kept at the No 3 building of the Kaski District Police Office.

“We took the ballot boxes to the Kaski District Police Office as per the Home Ministry’s direction, as we were not in a position to provide security in the campus, as the policemen were mobilised for SLC examination,” the police said.

The vote count has been stalled for almost a week because of the dispute between the rival students unions. The Maoist-affiliated ANNISU-R has been creating hurdle in the vote count. It has been demanding re-polling.

“The ballot boxes cannot be legitimate, as they have been kept away from the students for almost a week,” central secretariat member of ANNISU-R Sudip Kunwar said.

“Now, we should go for fresh polls,” Kunwar added.

However, UML-affiliated ANNFSU’s presidential candidate at the college Rashmi Acharya downplayed the calls for fresh polls.

“The ANNISU-R took part in the polls, claiming that they had support of the students. Now they have been demanding for fresh polls,” Acharya added.

Nepal Students’ Union’s presidential candidate for the FSU Ram Prasad Adhikary chose to keep mum on the issue.

Campus chief Dr Pashupathinath Timilsina and chief of election committee Dev Narayan Sutihar have already tendered their resignations, following the dispute between the rival student unions.

Following the duo’s resignations, the campus management committee has appointed Devendra Lamichhane as acting campus chief and Baburam Poudel as chief of election committee.