Odisha’s higher education department has clarified that students enrolled in self-financing programmes through the Student Academic Management System (SAMS) can vote and contest student union elections, while those in public-private partnership (PPP) mode and distance education programmes are excluded from the process.
The eligibility rules were notified earlier this week ahead of student union elections across higher education institutions in the state. Under the rules, a candidate must be a regular, full-time student of a higher education institution and must have been admitted through SAMS in either a regular or self-financing programme.
The notification specifically excludes students enrolled through distance education or PPP-mode programmes from contesting elections. A senior higher education department official clarified that the exclusion also applies to voting for students enrolled in PPP-mode self-financing courses.
The clarification followed confusion among self-financing students because both SAMS-admitted courses and PPP-mode courses carry the self-financing label. The department said the two categories differ in how they are administered and operated.
Students admitted to self-financing programmes through SAMS, and holding a valid SAMS identification number, are treated as bona fide students of the institution. They are therefore eligible to participate in the electoral process as voters and candidates, according to the department’s clarification.
PPP-mode self-financing programmes, however, are operated in partnership with an outside agency selected under the framework prescribed by the department. The department official said these programmes remain outside the department’s administrative framework, which is the basis for excluding their students from student union elections.
The distinction places the administrative route of admission, rather than the self-financing label alone, at the centre of electoral eligibility. Students in two programmes that may both require fees to be financed outside conventional public funding arrangements can therefore have different rights in campus representation.
The rules are being implemented as institutions prepare for the election process. At Utkal University, 219 nomination forms were collected ahead of the filing of nominations scheduled for Friday, indicating significant participation in the upcoming student elections.
The department’s clarification establishes that a valid SAMS identity and admission through the centralised system will be the key basis for participation among self-financing students. Students enrolled through PPP-mode or distance education programmes will remain outside both voting and candidacy under the notified eligibility framework.
