Bhubaneswar: Students contesting in the Odisha Student Union elections will have to meet prescribed age and attendance criteria, possess a SAMS ID and have no criminal record, while campaign expenditure will be capped at Rs 5,000, under rules issued by the Higher Education Department on Monday.
The department has notified the conduct of Student Union elections in higher educational institutions under its jurisdiction for the academic year 2026-27.
As per the rules, students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate courses can contest and vote in the elections. However, students enrolled in distance education or self-financing courses under PPP mode will not be eligible to contest or vote. Students pursuing self-financing courses through SAMS will be eligible to participate.
Candidates for undergraduate courses must be aged between 17 and 22 years, while the upper age limit for postgraduate candidates is 25 years.
A candidate must have at least 75 per cent classroom attendance and should not have any criminal record.
The department has also barred indecent comments on social and digital media during campaigning and prohibited the use of false, misleading, manipulated or AI-generated fake content.
Candidates can use handmade posters, while processions and public meetings inside campuses will require prior written permission from the college authorities. Participation of non-students in the election process has been prohibited.
Campaigning must cease 24 hours before polling ends, from 2 pm on October 14 to 2 pm on October 15.
Candidates will have to submit certificates detailing their campaign expenditure to the concerned college or university within two weeks of declaration of results. The institutions will subsequently upload the certificates on the Higher Education Management Information System (HIMS) portal.
The institutions will also upload election-related data, including nomination lists, scrutinised and validated nominations, withdrawal details, final nomination lists and certificates of elected candidates, on the HIMS portal.
Universities and colleges have been directed to publish details of polling venues, election rules and other related information through their respective notifications on October 7.
The department has also mandated the constitution of a Grievance Redressal Committee in every higher educational institution, headed by the Dean (Student Welfare) or Teacher-in-Charge of Student Affairs. The committee will comprise the head, a faculty member, a senior administrative officer and two final-year students, including one male and one female.
Polling stations must be completely cleaned within 48 hours of declaration of the results.
The entire election process will be conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee and rules framed by the Higher Education Department.
Following issuance of the notification, a preparatory meeting was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Higher Education Commissioner-cum-Secretary Arvind Agrawal, with registrars of universities, chairpersons of PG councils and principals of colleges participating virtually.
Agrawal briefed the participating officials on the election schedule and rules and directed them to ensure smooth conduct of the polls.
He also instructed the institutions to constitute committees for managing the election process, prepare ballot papers and ballot boxes and ensure strict compliance with all prescribed rules.
Director of Higher Education Kali Prasanna Mahapatra, Additional Secretaries Sangram Shekhar Panda, Dharanidhar Nanda and Pratibha Sahu, Joint Secretaries Mausumi Nayak, Ranjita Sahu, Sujata Nayak and Ashok Kumar Goud, besides other senior officials, attended the meeting.
