Bhubaneswar, Sept. 17: The higher education department has tentatively fixed October 13 as the date for college and university elections in the state.

“This year, elections in colleges and the varsities will be held at the same time. A formal notification will be sent to the colleges shortly,” said director, higher education, Nibedita Jena.

However, with the ongoing mid-term exams for degree colleges set to end on September 28, aspiring candidates sounded apprehensive.

“Once exams end, students, especially freshers, will be heading home and we will lose out on votes from them,” said Amit Kumar Jena, an aspiring candidate at BJB College. It would have been better if the elections were held in the first week of October, he suggested. “Then, we could motivate the students to at least wait till the elections. The second week of October will be too late,” Jena said.

Sibabrata Nayak, another aspiring candidate, had the same opinion. “The dates are fine and in fact, the sooner they hold the elections it will be better,” he said.

Higher education department authorities, however, said the elections had been scheduled so that they were held just before the Durga Puja vacations.

“This has been done to check any kind of post-poll violence. Since the Puja vacations would begin, students will leave for their homes,” said an official.