Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: The government today announced the schedule for the annual students' union elections in colleges and universities across the state.

Making the announcement, higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahy said the elections would be held on October 14. The notification regarding the election will be issued on October 3 and the candidates can file their nominations on October 5. The last date of withdrawal of nomination is October 6. The "What I stand for" meeting - where the candidates explain to the college students their objectives of contesting the polls - will be held on October 13.

"On October 14, the voting will start in the morning and continue till 2 pm. Thereafter, the votes will be counted and the results will be declared by the evening," Panigrahy said.

The swearing in ceremony will be held on October 15.

"A formal notification will be sent to the colleges soon," the minister said.

Hours before the poll announcement was made, two groups clashed at Utkal University last night. The clash was triggered after some outsiders entered the hostels, sources said. Following the incident, security has been beefed up and police have been deployed on the campus. Last year, elections were cancelled in colleges such as BJB Autonomous College, Ekamra College and Maharshi College of Natural Law due to cases of pre-poll violence.

Higher education department authorities said the elections were scheduled in such a way that they would be wrapped up before the Durga Puja vacation. "This has been done to check any kind of post-poll violence," said a senior official of the department.