BHUBANESWAR: Amid reports of pre-poll violence in various colleges and universities across the State, Higher Education Minister Ananta Das on Wednesday asked the Home department and police to tighten security on campuses to ensure peaceful conduct of students’ union elections. “In view of the pre-poll violence, the Home department and Director General of Police have been asked to enhance security on campuses where the atmosphere is not peaceful for smooth conduct of students’ union elections,” Das told media persons here.
Officials said universities and colleges have been asked to monitor the situation closely and take decision on conduct of campus polls accordingly. In the last one week, students’ union polls have been scrapped in several universities and colleges across the State due to campus violence. Following campus unrest, students’ union elections in seven educational institutions including two universities- Ravenshaw and Sambalpur - were cancelled off last Monday. The campus polls were also cancelled by authorities of Utkal University last week.
Besides, Nilagiri College in Balasore, Dhamnagar College in Bhadrak and Jamsuli LN College in Jaleswar have been declared sine die due to pre-poll violence. As per the notification of Higher Education department, students’ union elections are scheduled to be held on October 11. Meanwhile, nomination papers were filed by candidates in several colleges and universities on the day.
The aspiring candidates, flanked by their supporters, filed their papers between 9 am and 12 noon at their respective colleges and universities. The papers were verified between 2 pm and 4 pm.
The list of eligible candidates will be released at 11 am on Thursday. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 5 and the final list of candidates will be announced on the same day. The ‘Why I stand for’ meeting will be held on October 10.