FORGET Hillary and Obama. A schism in the Oxford Union over controversial debates has led to a battle for its presidency that has left the two prime candidates claiming foul play.

There have been accusations of electoral malpractice, abuse of power and sexual harassment. One student last week likened the rift to the Arab-Israeli conflict and proposed a motion that the union – the debating society that launched the political careers of William Hague, Tony Benn and the late Benazir Bhutto – should not exist.

The feuding follows a series of high-profile debates which included an invitation in November to Nick Griffin, leader of the British National party, and David Irving, the right-wing historian, and a vote last week on whether Israel should be allowed to exist.

Krishna Omkar, 23, a sociology student at Merton College, won an election in November to be president of the union for the summer term. He beat Charlotte Fischer, 21, who is studying modern history and politics at Balliol College, by 959 votes to 658.

However, Omkar, the union’s treasurer, was disqualified and banned from standing again by a university tribunal after Fischer complained that he had held an eve-of-poll meeting for 30 people in a hired room, contrary to union rules that prevent electioneering.

Omkar’s supporters claimed that Fischer, the union’s librarian, broke with tradition by bringing in a London barrister to represent her. She expected to be named president by default but a new election was ordered. She walked out of the contest and returned home to Orpington, south London, after claiming union officials sent her bullying messages, including one that said “fancy a f***”.

The battle will come to a head next month at an appeal hearing for Omkar. It will be held on the same day as a debate to mark the 75th anniversary of the union’s “king and country” vote of 1933 which gained notoriety when students said they would not fight for their monarch.

Omkar and Fischer were once friends and last summer he invited her to sleep in his rooms while she was moving accommodation. She called him “my love” and he called her “my gorgeous surfer girl” in exchanges on Face-book.

They fell out over the invitations to Griffin and Irving and their decisions to stand against each other. Omkar said that once the invitations had gone out, Griffin and Irving should be allowed to speak in the interests of free speech. Fischer, who is Jewish, wanted them withdrawn.

Fischer said she accused Omkar of electoral malpractice “with a heavy heart” because she hated to see the union being brought into disrepute and “weakened by the perceived corruption”.

She said she had asked a barrister who was a family friend to represent her for free “because of the viciousness of the attacks against me”.

Omkar, a dandy who has addressed the union wearing Moroccan-style embroidered babouche slippers, said: “I have been punished for doing something most other presidents have done. I held a meeting of 30 people. It was not a party. There was no alcohol present. I had no idea Charlotte had been getting these text messages until I read her resignation letter.”

The result of the 2004 presidential election was overturned when Ruzwana Bashir, 20, the winner, was accused of canvassing for support. But an appeal found she had been the victim of dirty tricks. She was exonerated and became the first British-born Asian woman to hold the post.

One union insider said: “There is a lot of tension. Krishna has quite a dress sense and is considered by some as rather brash. But Charlotte’s decision to call a tribunal and bring in a barrister is seen as unsporting. But both are ambitious and there isa lot at stake. Being president of the union is quite a role to have.”

The union was founded in 1823 and its guest speakers have included Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Malcolm X, Michael Jackson and the former American presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Additional reporting: Laila Sennah

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