Chandigarh, July 18 -- Campus elections are more than a month away but political showdowns between student parties have already started at Panjab University (PU) with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Sath Party getting into a brawl over the setting up of an admission help desk on Friday. Several students were injured during the clash. It all started around 2.30 pm - the same time when the Prime Minister's event was going on at Punjab Engineering College (PEC), located five minutes away from PU - when members of the Sath party objected to the ABVP kiosk set up at the law auditorium when the counselling for science subjects was going on. Sath members alleged that PU had stopped giving permissions for help desks since 2017, and alleged that the varsity was giving the ABVP an unfair advantage in the upcoming elections by allowing them to set up a kiosk. As tempers flared, students of Sath party tore down the ABVP banner even as Sector-11 police station SHO Jaspal Singh Bhullar had reached the spot with his team by then. In retaliation, ABVP leaders opened an attack on the rivals, thrashing at least two Sath party members. One of the student's turban was also tossed in the air in the ensuing melee. As police intervened and took the Sath party members aside, ABVP members sat on the road, blocking traffic and raising slogans against their rivals. The Panjab University Campus Students Council's (PUCSC) vice-president in the previous academic year, Ashmeet Singh, a member of Sath, said he had brought the issue of the kiosk to the notice of authorities in the morning itself but no action was taken. Thus, his party members gathered outside the law auditorium in the afternoon to protest. ABVP's campus president Parvinder Singh Negi maintained that the party was well within its rights to set up a help desk. "All student parties are welcome to help students and parents who come from outside Chandigarh to understand more about the courses and about PU," he said. Dean students welfare (DSW) Yogesh Rawal said that while permission had been given to set up a help desk, there was no provision for putting up a tent as was seen on Friday. He added that he had asked the chief of university security (CUS) to get it removed before the matters got out of hand. When asked if any action will be taken against students involved in the brawl, CUS Vikram Singh said they will wait for the police's directions. No FIR was registered till the filing of the report. Vice-chancellor Renu Vig added that she has asked the DSW to hold an all-party meeting to discuss how decorum can be maintained on campus during counselling. She further added that the DSW has issued a circular that such tents will not be allowed in future counselling events....