Bhubaneswar, Sept. 15: Colleges and university campuses across the state have been witnessing violence in the run-up to students' union elections for the past few years and this year has begun to be no different.

Tension ran high on several college campuses across the state today, including Maharishi College in the city, where low intensity bombs were hurled creating panic among the students. Following the incident, security was tightened at the college.

Unidentified criminals hurled two crude bombs at the ladies' hostel of BJB College yesterday. At Utkal University, a clash between two groups of students took place on Wednesday evening. 'Two students, including a presidential candidate, were injured in the scuffle. The atmosphere on the campus is not safe,' said Gayatri Kar, a student of the varsity.

Several colleges, including Vyasanagar College in Jajpur, Swarnachuda College and Oupada College in Balasore district, has been closed sine die from today after elections to students' unions were called off due to campus violence.

Principal of BJB Autonomous College Mohammed Nawaz Hasan said they were keeping a close watch on the situation. 'We have asked the police to deploy their personnel on the campus and also prevent outsiders' entry. We will shortly install closed-circuit cameras.'

At Rajdhani College, two rival groups clashed recently over election campaign. An aspirant was injured during the fight. One platoon of police has been deployed on the campus to maintain peace.

On August 12, three students were injured in a clash with a group of students and outsiders in Deba Ray College, Nayapalli. Even the cops do not want to take any chances this year, as the state has been witnessing campus violence in the past.

Student organisations have started the blame game by holding each other responsible for violence incidents.

The cops have urged the college authorities to initiate stringent measures to curb the entry of outsiders. Most colleges and universities have roped in private security guards to check the entry and exit points.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said all police stations concerned have been asked to keep a vigil on the campuses before the polls. Amidst a series of campus violence incidents, the notification for the polls was issued formally today. The students' union elections in colleges and universities across the state will be held on September 23.

The aspiring candidates will file their nominations on September 16 while the last date of withdrawal of nomination is September 18.