Odisha Student Union Polls: Voting Ends, Results Awaited

Bhubaneswar: Polling for student union elections in colleges and universities across Odisha concluded at 2 pm on Thursday, with the results awaited as counting of votes gets underway.

Voting began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements across educational institutions in the state. Students exercised their franchise to elect representatives to various posts, including president, vice-president and general secretary.

The elections are being held after an eight-year gap, with 346 colleges and 13 universities participating in the electoral process. A total of 6,891 candidates were in the fray for various student representative posts, according to figures released by the Higher Education Department.

Security was tightened at several campuses to ensure peaceful polling amid tensions between rival student organisations during the campaign period.

The counting of votes is scheduled to take place after polling, with results expected to be declared later in the day. The newly elected student representatives are scheduled to take the oath of office on Friday.