BCJD, ABVP claim landslide victory in Odisha college union polls

Bhubaneswar: The students wing of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS ) today claimed to have mopped up over 90 % of the seats in the student union polls held earlier in the day across colleges and universities.

While Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) claimed that 95% of its candidates emerged victorious, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) asserted 90 % of its nominees defeated their rivals in the elections.

The Congress, which is aggressively losing its influence on voters, too trumpeted on same tunes. The grand old party congratulated its winning candidates for massive show.

On the other hand, the ‘cash for vote’ allegations by BJD-backed candidate stoked fire to the political warfare as we had reported here.

“As reports have emerged that the BJD-backed candidates have bribed voters, this is murder of democracy,” said Abhilash Panda, state secretary ABVP.

The BCJD was, however, quick to refute the allegations.

“We have never got involved in distributing cash for votes. The allegations are politically motivated,” said Rana Pratap Patra, president BCJD.

As per reports, elections were held at as many as 376 colleges which passed off peacefully barring sporadic incidents.

Let’s have a look at some of the results declared:

BJD-backed candidate Soubhagya Soumyashree Samal won the president’s post in Rama Devi Women’s University. Similarly, BJD-backed candidates – Rajat Kumar Parida, Punyabrata Das and Santosh Barik were declared winners in Rajdhani College, Jagatsinghpur SVM College and Gopabandhu College in Athgarh respectively.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took to Twitter to congratulate the newly-elected student leaders.

Congratulations to winners of Students Union polls. My best wishes on new responsibilities. Work unitedly for advancement of your alma-mater

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) September 23, 2017

Likewise, Ambika Samantaray in Deba Ray College, Aumkar Acharya in Ekamra College, Bijay Kumar Dehury in Deogarh College, Tushar Kumar Nayak in North Orissa University, Amiya Mohanty in KSUB College in Bhanjanagar, Shibani Patra in PN (Autonomous) College, Sucharita Maharana in Angul Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Suvendu Amanta in Angul Govt College, Subhashish Parida in Jatni College, Nilesh Baral in Godabarish Mahavidyalaya in Banapur, Annapurna Mohanty in Government Women’s College in Sundargarh, Chitta Ranjan Das in Kendrapara College, Aloka Tanuja in Govt Women’s College in Jeypore, Rupesh Nayak in Phulbani (Autonomous) College, Sahejadi Gulabsa Begum in Women’s College in Khurda, M Akash in Vikram Deb (Autonomous) College in Jeypore won as presidents in their respective institutions.

The ABVP claimed to have won polls in Jatni College, Sambalpur University, Rairangpur College, BS College in Nuahata, Jajpur, Chandola College in Kendrapara, SBR Women’s College in Ganjam, Marsaghai College in Kendrapara, and PS College in Jhumpura among others.

The winning candidates will take oath on Monday.

Notably, the campus poll was cancelled at many prominent colleges and universities of the state including Utkal University, BJB (Autonomous) College, Maharshi College of Natural Law and Madhusudan Law College after pre-poll violence erupted in the campuses.

Victorious candidates and their supporters were at their rapturous best after the results were announced. The frenzied mass erupted in joy and celebrated the occasion with processions, music, dance and firecrackers.