Students Agitation Demanding Union Elections Flares

Bhubaneswar: Demanding of union elections in colleges and universities in Odisha, hundreds of students staged a protest and scuffled with police while trying to gherao Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Angry members of All Odisha Student Voice hurled eggs at the poster of Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari while marching toward Naveen Niwas.

Lamenting that elections in colleges and universities have not been held since 2018, they said it had caused resentment among many students who want immediate steps to ensure the holding of student union polls across the state.

Student leaders of their party are spreading a reign of terror on the institution’s campuses. This has led to a spurt in the entry of outsiders in colleges, ragging, and other illegal activities in universities, the protestors alleged.

It is pertinent to mention that the students’ union elections were cancelled in 2018 due to Cyclone Titli in Odisha.

Again it was cancelled due to campus violence in 2019 followed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

This is the fifth consecutive year when elections will not be conducted in the state.