No Student Union Polls at Vani Vihar, confirms PG Council

The Utkal University PG Council has stuck to its previous decision and declared that there won’t be any Student Union polls this year at Vani Vihar. Series of violent incidents and unrest have been attributed to the cancellation of polls in the varsity.

A high level meeting chaired by PG Council Chairman Ranjan Kumar Bal, and attended by the officials and members of advisory committee, has decided to scrap this year’s elections.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, Ranjan Kumar Bal said following the law and order situation at the campus, the officials have decided not to conduct students’ polls this year. It is noteworthy that a lady died inside her car during the NH-5 blockade on September 26 over the same issue.

The students from all three political outfits – BJD, ABVP and Congress, have staged a dharna in protest against the decision. At least three platoons of police forces have been deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

The ABVP has blamed the ruling BJD government for the cancellation of Varsity polls. However, the BJD has rubbished the charges and said the decision was taken by the PG Council whereas they want the polls to be conducted. The Congress has blamed both BJD and ABVP for the situation.