In Nawalparasi East, major political parties have called for the immediate commencement of the Free Students’ Union (FSU) election process as per the scheduled timeline.

They put forth the demand after various student organisations locked the campus, halting election activities across the district. The four student wings of major political parties, including the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), and the CPN (Unified Socialist), have jointly requested the district authorities to resume the election process.

The call for action comes after a public notice from the Nepal Public Campus Association, which expressed concerns that the scheduled elections, due on March 18, may not be held. In response, local leaders of the ruling coalition and opposition parties have urged the authorities to unlock the campuses and suspend ongoing protests to move forward with the election process.

“We have drawn serious attention to the announcement by the Nepal Public Campus Association regarding the possible delay in the elections. We request all the concerned ones to open all the locked campuses and call off all the protests so that we can move ahead with the election process on an agreed basis,” said Balkrishna Ghimire, vice president of Nepali Congress in Nawalparasi East.

The four political parties highlighted that failure to hold the FSU elections would deprive students of their democratic rights. They stressed the importance of ensuring timely elections to preserve these rights.

Guru Subedi, district president of the Nepal Public Campus Association, stated that the ongoing lockouts by student unions have hindered the election process. “As of now, no campus has even started the process of registration for student unions, and many campuses are still locked. How can elections be held under such circumstances?” he questioned. “If the dispute is resolved and Tribhuvan University issues a new timetable, the election process can move forward.”

The student unions’ internal conflicts have led to deadlock in various campuses, and as of now, the election process has not progressed. Meanwhile, the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), the student of Nepali Congress, has been staging a relay hunger strike for the past four days, demanding that elections be held as per the planned schedule.

A total of 10 campuses in the district were scheduled to hold the FSU elections.