Amid reports of bogus voting, booth capturing and intimidation of voters, the police conducted at least one lathi-charge and stepped up presence around the campus. At the end of the day, the campus could have passed off for a village in northern India during election time.

The violence was not confined to the main campus; there were lathi-charges at the Faculty of Medicine and at the girls' college in Padra. There were also instances of bogus voting and booth capturing in the Faculty of Medicine.

However, the most deplorable incidents were on the main campus, where trouble was sparked off by an irregularity in the ballot papers for the vice-president's election. The final ballot papers were printed after candidate number 5 George Parmar withdrew from the race; the names below should have been moved up by one (i.e., candidate 6 becomes candidate 5, and so on). This was important because candidates canvass mainly by number, and after Parmar withdrew the original number 6 Mayur Patel began campaigning as number 5.

With the papers reflecting this anomaly, Patel and his supporters contended that they would be losing out on votes as the number was missing. On a suggestion that the polls for that post be deferred, they said no students would come and vote in elections to just one post. At this, union president S R Pandya and returning officer N M Bhatt called in all the candidates for the post, who unanimously decided that the elections to that post be called off and held as per the decision of the university authorities.

However, the declaration by union patron Pro Vice-Chancellor Deepak Kumar De postponing the elections to the VP's post till December 30 sparked off another controversy. Candidates contesting other posts, hearing of this decision, left their respective canvassing areas on the campus and ransacked the union office, shouting slogans. They contended that the entire elections should be deferred, and all held together.

When the authorities turned down this demand, two union leaders -- Janak Mackwana, standing for UGS and Jaydeepsinh Gohil, standing for VP -- entered a polling booth in theArts Faculty, brushed aside the authorities and those casting their votes, broke two ballot boxes and scattered the ballot papers.

On receiving complaints, the officers on election duty rushed to the spot. Soon after, the authorities met and decided that elections to all the posts would be held later.

However, this decision didn't please candidates for the various Faculty Representative posts, who said votes cast in their elections were counted at the faculty level and were disassociated from the main elections. They started throwing stones at the union office and demanded that counting begin.

That's when the police stepped in, and conducted a few lathicharges on students to stem the flow of violence. They managed to vacate the campus, and students left, though not without making a noise.

Even after this, confusion continued to prevail for those elections which had been conducted peacefully and for which results had already been declared. The results of the Faculty General Secretary of the Faculty of Performing Arts had already been declared before the official letter of cancelling elections was circulated.