Pre-poll Violence in Capital Colleges: Maharishi, Rajdhani Closed Sine Die

Indian Express
October 7, 2015

Maharishi College of Natural Law

BHUBANESWAR: The Maharishi College of Natural Law and Rajdhani College in the Capital City were closed sine die on Tuesday following pre-poll violence on the campuses. Earlier in the day, the authorities of both the colleges decided to scrap the students’ union election as nominations of most of the prospective candidates were declared invalid.

At Rajdhani College, a group of students locked the principal and teachers inside the institution for six hours to protest against the rejection of nomination papers. Of the nine candidates who had filed nominations for the post of president, papers of only two candidates were found valid. The attendance percentage of these two candidates was above 75 per cent as set by the Lyngdoh Commission guideline. The attendance percentage of the rest seven candidates was below 50 per cent.

Sources said a group of students staged demonstration demanding revalidation of the nomination papers. They became violent and locked the staff common room and college gates, said Principal of the college Jahanara Begum. Apprehending trouble, the teachers’ council decided to close the institution sine die.


Apart from the president post, candidates were declared uncontested in all other posts of the students’ union in the college.

Similarly in Maharishi College of Natural Law, students took to the street after all the nomination papers filed were rejected during scrutiny on Tuesday. Principal of the college Basant Sahu said nominations of all 89 candidates were found invalid due to shortage of attendance.

Following a notification in this regard, students accused teachers of the college of being supportive towards candidates owing allegiance to a particular party. “When approached, the students were not ready to talk with the teachers over the issue. As they were getting restive, we decided to close the college sine die,” Sahu said.

Meanwhile, two crude bombs were thrown at Indira Gandhi ST Women’s hostel which houses several outstation students of Rama Devi Women’s University at around 11.55 am on Tuesday by two unidentified miscreants. The incident occurred prior to release of the final list of eligible candidates for the students’ union poll in the university. While no student was injured, some glass panes of the hostel were damaged.

Following the incident, students of the university sat on dharna outside the hostel demanding action against the miscreants. Saheed Nagar police station IIC Deepak Mishra said the miscreants threw cracker bombs at the hostel.

Following the complaint, police have launched a manhunt to nab the two miscreants. PG Council Chairperson of the university Bani Sengupta said of total 42 nomination papers filed, 14 were found invalid.

Students’ union election will now be held only in Rama Devi Women’s University, Kamala Nehru College and BJB Autonomous College in Bhubaneswar. Elections were already cancelled in Utkal University, Ekamra College and City Women’s College.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/Pre-poll-Violence-in-Capital-Colleges-Maharishi-Rajdhani-Closed-Sine-Die/2015/10/07/article3067190.ece