Students’ union polls over in Odisha; Ravenshaw closed sine die

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack/ Bhubaneswar, Oct 14:

Students’ union elections were completed in 686 colleges and eight universities of Odisha more or less peacefully today. Cuttack based Ravenshaw University, however, has been closed sine die amidst post poll violence this evening.

While the polls were conducted smoothly and the day remained largely peaceful in Ravenshaw, tension gripped the campus following the announcement of the result that saw Ramyaranjan getting elected as President and Sankalp Patnaik as the General Secretary.

Even though no major incident was reported barring few minor clashes, the authorities closed the university sine die to prevent any untoward incident. The security has been beefed up and eight platoon cops have been deployed in the campus. The students have been asked to vacate the hostels.

Notably, the students’ union polls of the university had been scrapped earlier because of pre-poll violence on September 28 that witnessed a group of students breaking the windshield of a car belonging to the university’s vice-chancellor. The decision, however, was reversed later in favour of a poll following protests.

Apart from Ravenshaw, polls in most other colleges remained largely peaceful. The voting started at 8 AM continued till 2 PM. Results were announced in the evening.

Winning candidates were seen taking out victory rallies, sharing sweets and celebrating the win with supporters.

“I am very happy for the results and want to thank God, my parents and friends. It would not have been possible without their blessings and good will. The problems are many, but I will try to address them in the best possible way and do my level best to stand up to the expectation of my supports,”said Bhubaneswar based Ramadevi Womens’ University’s President-elect Megha Kanungo.

The oath taking ceremony of elected student leaders would be held tomorrow.