Bhubaneswar, Sept. 21: The postgraduate council of Utkal University has given its go ahead to the students' union polls on the campus this year.

The council is the highest body in the university to take decisions on academic and election-related matters.

The students' poll in the university was cancelled last year following recurrent incidents of campus violence.

"The campus has remained peaceful this time and there have been no untoward incidents as yet. Hence, the council has unanimously agreed to hold the elections this year," said chairman of the council Ranjan Kumar Bal.

A formal notification will be published on September 28 and elections will be held on October 5 as per the schedule released by the state government.

The council, however, warned that the elections would be cancelled any moment if there were any violence on the campus. "If there is a violence like that of last year, we will be forced to call off the elections as per the report of Lyngdoh Commission," said Bal.

The elections will be conducted according to the guidelines of Lyngdoh Commission and the factors of minimum attendance and putting up of banners will be looked into.

"The formal notification on elections is yet to be published and hence the banners currently put up by aspiring candidates on the campus can remain. However, once the notification is out, putting up banners will be against the guidelines," he said.

The university has formed a special squad to ensure smooth conduct of the polls. This squad, consisting of teaching faculty, superintendents and hostel wardens, will keep a tab on the activities on the campus from the day of notification till the completion of polls. They will visit hostels, the departments and make rounds of the hostel on regular intervals.

In another development, to monitor the entry of outsiders and non-students into the campus, the varsity authorities have started the installation of CCTV cameras. Monitoring cameras worth Rs 20 lakh will be installed at the three gates of the university, the postgraduate council, library and 13 hostels within a week, said an official, adding that a CCTV had already been installed in the main gate. The authorities have also met the police commissioner and sought his help and cooperation ahead of election.

"We are happy that that the authorities have agreed for the elections. The contestants must make efforts to make the election peaceful for the benefit of the students," said Tanmay Swain, a student leader.