Trichy: Many of the students of the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN), Tiruvarur, who hail from north Indian states including West Bengal, may not be able to cast their vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as their semester examination dates clash with that of the election dates.The examination schedule was released before the announcement of the election dates. As per the university calendar, the semester exams for all the courses were to be held between April 4 and April 25. Observing that it would coincide with the election dates in Tamil Nadu, the university has rescheduled the semester examination dates.Office of the controller of examination, CUTN, told TOI that examinations have been rescheduled to be conducted between April 26 and May 10. As the examinations on April 29 and May 6 will coincide with the fourth and fifth phases of polling in most of the north Indian states, many of the students from that part of the country will miss the votes this time. “As per protocol, the university is not supposed to function during elections in Tamil Nadu. But it may not be practically possible to ensure that the date doesn’t coincide with elections across the country,” said a senior member of CUTN administration.A first-time voter in CUTN hailing from Uttar Pradesh termed it unfortunate that he is pursuing education at the cost of his democratic responsibility. But the university should have ensured that students from none of the state get affected due to the examination schedule.The university administration has said that these students can cast their votes and arrangements would be made for supplementary examinations if they show proof of their voting. However, the students found the idea weird and asked what proof that they can furnish to establish that they had cast their votes.

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