Calcutta, April 29: Their classrooms in a mess, nearly 150 BCom students of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis College in Baranagar refused to sit for their annual examination this morning.

They staged a protest on the campus instead, demanding to know why the central paramilitary forces, to whom the rooms had been requisitioned for Thursday’s election, had not cleared the trash they left behind. The demonstration continued for over an hour.

Empty beer bottles, polythene cups, waste paper and food leftovers are littered over all seven rooms of the college, leaving no space for the students. Switchboards in some rooms are broken and light bulbs missing

“We came to the college to sit for our annual examination. But to our utter dismay, we found all seven rooms full of dirt. How can we sit in filthy rooms which are littered with empty beer bottles?” asked Sujal Dutta, a first-year BCom student.

Ranit Bose, the secretary of the college’s SFI-led students’ union, said the jawans did not even bother to clean up after vomiting on the floor. “This is really unbearable,” he said.

College principal Swapan Kar was left groping for an answer when the students confronted him. He deferred the examination following pressure from the protesters.

“The district administration informed me that it would requisition the college rooms for accommodating central forces engaged in poll-related duty. I had made it a point that the rooms should be cleaned before the forces left the place. But nobody bothered to clear the mess,” Kar said.

He said the rescheduled examination date would be announced later. A letter has been sent to district magistrate Manoj Pant, requesting him to ensure that the rooms are cleaned up.

Other educational institutions in the city, too, have got a taste of the trash left in the wake of the polls. Rabindra Bharati University’s B.T. Road campus, Calcutta University’s Alipore campus and the premises of National Library are still full of dirt.