Banner welcomes freshers at Rama Devi Women’s College in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 30: Colleges in the capital are getting ready for the students’ union elections scheduled to begin in September. Prospective candidates for various posts are already out to woo students.

BJB (Autonomous) College and Rajdhani College have been the first to prepare themselves for the big day with large hoardings already dotting the campuses.

“We welcomed the freshers in a traditional way with flowers, chocolates and chandan tika. Welcome cards were also distributed,” said Amit Kumar Jena, who is running for president at BJB college.

“Preparations have begun early this year because we do not know when the election dates would be declared,” he said. “We are trying to ensure that the students do not face any problem. We are also trying to ensure that the entire process is peaceful,” said Sibabrata Nayak, another candidate for the president’s post.

Last year, students’ union elections were cancelled at BJB (Autonomous) College, Maharishi College of Natural Law and Ekamra College because of repeated cases of pre-poll violence. This year too, minor clashes have already been reported at BJB college and Rajdhani college.

The contesting students claimed that they were trying to maintain peace on the campus. “A peaceful contest is possible unless there is intervention by outside elements,” said Nayak. “Students have badly suffered because of the cancellation of elections last year. We had to miss out on the various competitions organised by the union. Besides, the annual function could not be held,” said Priya Ranjan, a candidate running for secretary at BJB college. Authorities at both these colleges said there was no problem in holding the elections as long as there was no disturbance. “As of now, things look alright and there is no reason why elections should not be held,” said BJB college principal Suresh Pattnaik. On the other hand, Rajdhani College authorities are already thinking about cancelling the polls.

“There were clashes among students twice this week. If this continues, we might have to cancel the polls,” a senior college official said. Poll fever is yet to grip Utkal University and colleges such as Ramadevi and Maharshi.