The Students’ Union elections in Ganjam district concluded amidst tight security on Monday. In the Berhampur University, nearly 700 students reportedly exercised their franchise.
For 20 Post Graduate Departments, there were five booths and each booth was manned by one Presiding Officer and ten Polling Officers for smooth conduct of the polls. There was a tough contest between Deepak Pradhan and A Judhisthir Reddy for the post of president. However, Pradhan defeated Reddy by 207 votes. In the university, the students declared victorious were Deepak Pradhan (president), Dhiren Kumar Jena (vice president), Purenendu Priyotosh (general secretary), Sumit Kumar Rout (joint secretary), Biswaranjan Sethi (sports secretary), Niranjan Mantri (assistant sports secretary) and Debabratta Pattnaik (dramatic secretary). Bandita Nayak got elected unopposed as assistant dramatic secretary.
However, the situation during post-poll period in Khallikote (Autonomous) College became tense following a scuffle between the supporters of both victorious and defeated candidates. The winning candidates reportedly have filed a verbal complaint with the Town Police. The elected ones were Durga Prasad Das (+3 Arts) as president, Abhinas Behera (PG Department) as secretary, R Babula Behera as (PG Department) as joint secretary, Sugyan Panda as dramatic secretary, Sibadyuti Behera as sports secretary, Omkar Rout as secretary, Commerce Society and Somanath Behera as Secretary, Science Society. Some students reportedly met the Principal and complained about malpractice in counting. At Binayak Acharya College the victorious students were Jitendra Samal as president, Narayan Behera as vice-president, B Dipankar Patra as secretary and P Tarakeswar Rao as sports secretary.