Bhubaneswar: From a vintage car rally to biryani feasts, student union election campaigns in Odisha have turned into extravagant spectacles, leaving teachers and students questioning whether the contests resemble political battles more than campus polls.
At Kamala Nehru College, candidates hired a vintage car for a rally on Tuesday, the final day of campaigning. The rental alone cost over Rs 20,000, far exceeding the Rs 5,000 expenditure cap set by the Lyngdoh Commission.
“These campaigns look like high‑stakes political contests rather than exercises in democratic participation,” a faculty member at the college, Meenakshi Pati, told The Times of India.
Students too noted the lavishness. “Food camps have become a way to woo electors. For us, it’s feast time,” remarked Niharika Lahari of Ramadevi Women’s College, where breakfast spreads and biryani lunches were offered by rival outfits BCJD and ABVP.
At Utkal University, aspirants paraded in fleets of SUVs, while printed posters plastered across road medians and college gates openly flouted Lyngdoh guidelines.
The recommendations, approved by the Supreme Court, bar printed campaign material and permit only handmade posters at designated campus spots. Yet AI‑generated posters were widely visible outside Ramadevi University, Utkal University, and other institutions.
A higher education department official confirmed that candidates must submit expenditure statements within two weeks of results. Failure to comply could lead to annulment of their election.
The Lyngdoh panel’s rules were designed to curb money and muscle power in campus elections, ensuring contests remain accessible and democratic. But the scale of campaigning in Odisha this year suggests those safeguards are being tested like never before.