The Congress party which suffered a major setback in the recent municipal polls, faced yet another defeat in the university students union elections here on Friday evening.

The party’s student wing, NSUI (National Students Union of India) received a big blow after its presidential candidate for the central student cabinet of Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MLSU) Ronak Purohit’s nomination was rejected by the university’s election committee. It was rejected on the grounds for concealing facts. Lacking an opponent, Sonu Ahari, the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) candidate was declared elected uncontested. Sonu who is the son of Kherwada legislator Nanalal Ahari, is the first ST candidate ever to become the varsity president and also the only one to have been elected unopposed. This is a big shock for NSUI, which had won the president’s post last year. “They took undue advantage of having the ruling party on their side. We will file a writ at the high court against the unfair decision,” NSUI leaders said. Sources said that NSUI presidential candidate Ronak Purohit concealed facts relating to a criminal case u/s 307 of the IPC pending against him at a local court here. He had kept it a secret from the party too which wasn’t prepared even for a dummy candidate in case Ronak’s nomination was rejected at any stage of scrutiny for any probable reason. On Friday morning after Ronak filed his papers, the ABVP team, which had gathered details of the court proceedings, registered its objection along with the norms laid down by Lyngdoh committee. The returning officer (RO) Shankarlal Choudhary sent the objection to the grievance committee for its opinion which in turn sought legal advisor’s advice. Throughout the day, there was high drama by the NSUI and ABVP supporters over Ronak’s nomination papers. According to the university rules, a candidate against whom any criminal case is pending, cannot contest elections. Hence after the committee’s recommendation, on Friday evening, the RO rejected Ronak’s papers. More than 500 students had gathered outside the Dean Students’ Welfare office to know the status of Ronak’s candidature till late evening. Police had to resort to light force to disperse the crowd who even pelted stones at vehicles.