Established at Lahore in Pakistan in 1882, Panjab University is one of the oldest universities in India. In the PU campus, 70 percent of nearly 10,000 students are girls.

'It is impossible to contain our budget at Rs.5,000. We have been contesting elections for the last many years, and every time it has crossed Rs.150,000. Moreover, the Lyngdoh committee's guidelines are toothless, and one can easily fool the authorities by producing fake bills,' said a senior leader of the Panjab University Students' Union (PUSU), requesting not to be named.

Some parties claim they do try to stick to the rule book.

'We always try to limit our campaign cost to Rs.5,000. That is why this time we are relying on hand-made posters and focusing more on one-to-one contact in place of mass rallies,' Mani Atwal, law student and a representative of the Students' Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), told IANS.

'We have realised the fact that at the end of the day, only the work done by the party for the welfare of students counts. Students studying here are very intelligent; so you cannot buy their votes through any other means,' Atwal said.

The PU campus is spread over 550 acres. It has 60 teaching and research departments and over 170 colleges affiliated to it.

Besides SOPU and PUSU, NSUI and ABVP are also in the fray for the posts of president, vice president, joint secretary and general secretary.

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)