Students of Berhampur University protest in front of the PG Council’s office. (below) Ramadevi Women’s College students campaign in support of their candidates in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy and Telegraph picture

Berhampur, Sept. 26: The students’ union election in Berhampur University has been cancelled following a clash between two groups of students on Saturday. Gopalpur police arrested six students in connection with the clash and produced them in court. However, they were later released on a personal recognisance bond (written assurance to show up when called).

“There was tension on the campus and the candidates involved were not willing to give an undertaking that they would not indulge in violence again. So, we had no option but to cancel the election,” said Ganapati Choudhury, administrative officer of Berhampur University.

Ashok Mahankuda, a first-year student of journalism and mass communication and a supporter of one of the presidential candidates, Kapilendra Nahak, said some non-students attacked two of their friends in Bansadhar hostel on Saturday afternoon. “We were campaigning near the campus bus stop. As we moved to the hostel, we saw our friends being attacked by outsiders. When we intervened, they beat us up with hockey sticks. They wanted Kapilendra to withdraw his nominations but when he refused, they attacked us,” said Ashok.

Vice-chancellor of Berhampur University, Jayant Mahapatra appealed to the students to maintain peace while four platoons of police force were deployed on the campus.

Jayadev Pandit, who is contesting for the post of president, and his friends staged a demonstration in front of the PG Council chairman’s office demanding that elections be held as per schedule.

“The decision to cancel elections is not a practical solution. We collected written assurance from 200 students not to indulge in violence during elections but the authorities did not entertain us”, Jayadev said.

Here’s a look at the campaigning in other colleges. Elections are scheduled to be held on September 29.

Bhubaneswar

Aspirants at Ramadevi Women’s College, Kamala Nehru Women’s College and City Women’s College are trying their best to outdo their opponents by taking up door-to-door and SMS campaigning.

The tech-savvy ones are reaching out to the prospective voters through social networking sites.

“Today, I appealed to the students to vote for me by distributing Ganesha idols, pens, biryani, burgers and ice-cream. I paid each student’s canteen bill too,” said Susmita Palai, a presidential candidate of Ramadevi.

However, the atmosphere at College of Basic Sciences and Humanities and Biju Patnaik College was sombre.

“We are campaigning after class hours. I distributed chocolates, patties, chowmein and soft drinks to the students, and also noted down their problems,” said Chandan Pal of College of Basic Sciences and Humanities.

Meanwhile, most of the union posts at Rajdhani College and University Law College have already been occupied or found no aspirants.

Rajdhani principal-in-charge, Abhimanyu Bhuiyan said several candidates were disqualified as they were “over-aged” or had low attendance.

“Though there will be no polls, we have deployed police to prevent outsiders from entering the campus,” he said.

Cuttack

“Though we are mostly relying on classroom and door-to-campaigning, we are also sending SMS to the students to vote for us,” said Priya Mitra, a presidential candidate from Sailabala Women’s College.

Ravenshaw University is also bustling with cheers and slogans.

“My strategy has been to meet the students personally and ensure that they turn up on the polling day on September 29,” said Srikant Parida, a presidential candidate at Ravenshaw University.

Balasore

Banners and posters are adorning the campus of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College. Candidates have been instructed not to use pushing cards. After class hours, the authorities have allowed the aspirants to deliver speeches as part of campaigning.

Appeals to students through SMS-es or lavish treats at restaurants are on but subtly.

“Today is effectively the last day for full-fledged campaigning, so we allowed the candidates to reach out to their classmates and juniors before and after classes,” said principal Abhay Panda.

Peaceful polling

Campus elections were conducted peacefully at Sambalpur University today. Polls were held for the positions of president and vice-president, for which there were two aspirants each.

Punyamurti Khristodas and Bandana Kar were elected as president and vice-president, respectively, said S.K. Acharya, PG Council chairman of the university.

“Our union will raise issues such as internet facilities for all departments and hostels and construction of a new gate among others,” said Khristodas.

Bandana said she would try to conduct monthly meetings of the elected representatives where the students’ problems would be discussed and communicated to the authorities for necessary action.

Two platoons of police were deployed on the campus. “The sub-divisional police officer supervised the security arrangements,” said D.R. Gartia, officer in-charge of Sambalpur University police outpost.