Patna, Feb 28 (IANS) Voting for the Patna University Student Union elections is underway on Friday amid tight security arrangements, but a brief commotion disrupted polling at Patna College in the morning.

The controversy erupted when Rinkle Yadav, an independent candidate for the PU Central Panel President’s post, alleged that her name was incorrectly printed on the ballot paper.

Rinkle Yadav claimed that she had contested the election under the name “Rinkle Yadav” throughout her campaign.

However, the ballot papers reportedly carried her name as “Rinkle Kumar.”

In protest, she allegedly tore ballot papers inside Room 5 at Patna College. Following the incident, police detained her briefly before releasing her.

Voting at the college was disrupted for nearly 20 minutes.

The university administration took note of the issue and directed polling personnel to correct the candidate’s name on ballot papers manually using a pen.

After leaving Patna College, protesting candidates reportedly moved to other booths within the university campus, raising objections over the ballot name discrepancy. A similar incident of ballot paper tearing was reported at B. N. College.

Eyewitnesses said the atmosphere was already tense due to the elections, and the brief detention of the candidate further agitated some students. Classes and administrative work were temporarily affected.

Police and university authorities appealed to students to maintain peace.

Officials stated that maintaining law and order was their top priority and warned that any disruption would be dealt with strictly.

Polling began at 8:30 a.m. and continued until 2:30 p.m.

By 11 a.m., voter turnout figures were 32 per cent at Patna Women’s College, 27 per cent at Patna Law College, 18 per cent at Arts College, 13 per cent at Commerce College, 16 per cent at Patna College and 16 per cent at Patna Science College.

Voting is being conducted under police deployment across all colleges.

There are 41 candidates contesting for five central panel posts and 45 candidates for councillor positions. The central panel includes 11 candidates for President, nine for General Secretary, eight for Vice President, six for Joint Secretary, and seven for Treasurer.

Counting of votes will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Patna Arts College, with results expected to be declared late at night.

Despite the early disruption, polling continued under close monitoring by authorities.

–IANS

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