Bani Sadr’s harsh policy led to an intensification of the bloody clashes with leftist and Marxist students that had begun in universities in Farvardin 59. Over the next three days, Hezbollah forces, supported by the committee and plainclothes forces, attacked universities with hot and cold weapons, expelled leftist and Marxist student groups from the universities, and the universities came under the control of pro-government Muslim students. According to official statistics, 38 people were killed and hundreds were injured. On the second day of Ordibehesht, Banisadr went to Tehran University with a number of supporters of the Islamic regime and emphasized in his speech the necessity of continuing the path of the “cultural revolution”.
Jalal al-Din Farsi, the candidate of the Islamic Republic Party, withdrew from the electoral race due to the publication of news about his not being of Iranian origin.
Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, Seyyed Abdulkarim Mousavi Ardebili, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in a letter dated 18 Bahman 1358 (23 days after the first presidential elections) to Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini:
