Medical College Kolkata votes to elect student council, first since August 2024 protests
Telegraph | 3 June 2025
Medical College Kolkata held a “vote to select” a students’ council on Monday, the first in a medical college in Bengal since the junior doctors’ protests in August 2024 following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Among the many demands raised during the junior doctors’ protests last year was elections to form students’ unions in the medical colleges.
In a student union, a student heads the body, but in a council, a faculty member heads it.
Sources in Medical College, however, said the student council there was unlikely to have any faculty member.
“The Bengal government had promised to hold elections to form student bodies in all medical colleges by March 2025, a promise that they did not keep. Still, the formation of a student council in at least one medical college is a welcome step,” said a junior doctor who took part in the RG Kar protests last year.
Of the 20 seats for which voting was held, the Medical College Democratic Students’ Association won 17 seats, the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) won one seat and independent candidates won two seats.
Sources in the state health department said the vote to form the student council was an independent decision of the Medical College authorities.
The state health department did not pass any instruction to conduct the election. “There is no such standing order or nudge from the department to any medical college authority,” said an official of the department.
Asked why the department was not holding the elections as promised to junior doctors by the government, the official said that the first move should come from individual college authorities. “No one has approached us till date requesting for elections.”
An official of Medical College Kolkata said a student council was needed to raise funds for an annual fest. It can also raise issues like the lack of facilities in hostels and classrooms.
A student said the vote was possible only because of persistent demands raised by the students.
“We have been fighting for a democratic environment....they (college authorities) themselves notified the election to form the student council,” the student said.
Student union elections in general degree colleges in the state have not been held since 2016. The last elections at Jadavpur University, Rabindra Bharati University, Diamond Harbour Women’s University and Presidency University were held in 2020.