The Odisha Pradesh Student Congress on Saturday claimed that the candidates supported by the BJD in the students union elections across the State used money power to manipulate votes in their favour.
“Those who voted in favour of the candidates supported by BJD did not do it because they approved of the candidate,” president Chinmoy Sahoo alleged at a media conference. He claimed that a huge amount of money was used by the ruling party to turn the number of votes in favour of their candidates.
Sahoo also claimed that reports about the BJD-supported candidates winning 85 per cent of positions in college elections across the State were false. He instead claimed that the winning percentage of the candidates supported by the Student Congress was around 65 per cent.
“In the Capital city itself, our candidates won in four major colleges _ Ekamra College, City Women’s College, Basic Science and Humanities College and Capital Law College. A similar trend was seen in colleges in Rayagada, Malkangiri and Gajapati where our candidates won the elections with a comfortable margin,” said Sahoo.
He cited the case of RD Women’s College where the presidential candidate Rajashree Rajasmita Bhanja has alleged manipulation of votes in favour of the winner Pallabi Mohapatra. “No recounting is being done by the college authorities though there is a provision for that,” said Sahoo.
Sahoo said student Congress has been performing well by addressing the students’ problems directly.