Rajdhani College

Bhubaneswar, March 19: Exams are over and campus corners in universities and colleges are buzzing with chitchat about the upcoming elections.

Khattis and hangout places are infused with political talks. “Following political updates have become a fad. Almost everyday there are discussions among friends on new developments in the state and at the Centre.

In order to keep themselves updated, the students have downloaded news applications for mobile phones.

“Apps keep us updated. We get a notification as soon as there is a development,” said Pinaki Jena, an engineering student in a private institute here.

There are students who have subscribed to SMS alerts from media houses to keep themselves updated.

Students with a knack for politics can be seen involved in campaigning for their favourite leaders, parties and issues. There are discussions over the latest speech by the political leaders and what went wrong where.

“Not just students the teaching faculty, too, seemed to be in election mood. In the past few weeks, many of them cited example from the political developments while taking classes. It has added to the frenzy,” said Pragati Mishra, a student of Utkal University

The Election Commission had asked junior colleges to associate the process of admission to colleges with voter registration to get more number of students in the voter list. It had also directed the department to designate officials for the work and organise programme for voters’ education.

However, since some entrance exams are yet to be over, these programmes have not yet begun.

Student leader of Utkal University Tanmay Swain said that his team carried out awareness drives on the campus to inform the students about how to apply for changes in their voter I-cards or issue new ones from the state election commission.

“Many of the university students have submitted their forms for fresh voter I-cards and for corrections in their existing voter I cards,” informed Swain.

“As student leaders, we have tried to inculcate political consciousness among the students and motivated them to cast their votes. A good number of students in the university are from different districts and many of them have applied for the transfer of their polling booths to Bhubaneswar. This time, we will definitely experience a high turn out of voters,” said he adding that he would shortly start a campaign trail for the party of his choice.

Students in some colleges under the Biju Patnaik University and Technology (BPUT) said they were taking up awareness drive to encourage students to vote.

Biplab Prakash Mohanty of BPUT Protection Council said that many a times the faulty voters list irk the students, but social media such as Facebook are being used to communicate to the students and make them conscious about their responsibility as voters.