By Arindam Ganguly
Bhubaneswar: Student union elections, held after a gap of eight years amid sporadic tensions, saw candidates backed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) win in a majority of colleges and universities across the state Thursday.
Polling was held from 8 am to 2 pm at 346 state-run colleges and 13 universities under tight security. As of midnight, 247 colleges had declared their results, with 2,602 winners announced. Of these, 1,169 candidates were elected unopposed, while 1,433 won contested elections, sources said.
Six universities had also declared their results, announcing 66 winners. Of these, 24 candidates were elected unopposed, while 42 won contested elections, they added. Sources said the ABVP had won in a majority of higher educational institutions, followed by the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD), while the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) performed poorly.
In Bhubaneswar, ABVP-backed presidential candidate Aryan Mohapatra won at BJB Autonomous College. Similarly, ABVP candidate Avinash Padhee secured the president’s post at Rajdhani College. At Utkal University, ABVP presidential candidate Abhiram Mishra emerged victorious. At Gangadhar Meher University in Sambalpur, ABVP candidate Swadhin Kumar Acharya won the presidential election.
The BCJD secured the president’s post at Ravenshaw University in Kataka, where its candidate, Biswajit Sahu, emerged victorious. At Kama la Nehru Women’s College, BCJD candidate Bhanupriya Hazari won the presidential contest. At Khalikote University, independent candidate Santosh Pundi won the election for president post.
Similarly, Rajendra Nayak, another independent presidential candidate at SCS Autonomous College in Puri, emerged victorious. At Rama Devi Women’s University, the BCJD was leading by a significant margin when vote counting was halted following allegations of ballot tampering by ABVP candidates, sources said.
The ABVP candidates demanded a recount, leading to the suspension of counting. Tension prevailed at Rama Devi Women’s University af ter BCJD president Ipsita Sahoo was arrested by Commissionerate Police, triggering a face-off between BCJD and ABVP workers. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi urged students to participate in the elections peacefully.