Chandigarh, Sept. 3 -- Student council elections for the 2025-26 academic session will be held today in nine colleges across the city, with 43,860 students set to vote. On Tuesday, while college control rooms were busy with preparations like assigning polling duties and arranging voter lists and ballot boxes, campuses remained mostly vacant. College authorities anticipate a low voter turnout compared to the previous year, primarily due to the ongoing rain and many hostellers having gone home. Polling will begin at 9.30 am, with significant security and logistical arrangements in place. Discipline committees have been formed in each college, with police deployed outside the gates. In colleges like PGGC-11, DAV, and GGDSD, a considerable police force of 40-50 personnel, including SHOs and CID officials, is on duty to ensure order. To ensure transparency, especially at GGDSD College, teachers in the 56 polling booths have been provided with voter lists that include student photos. This allows them to verify a student's identity against both their ID card and their photograph on the list. A total of 56 polling booths have been set up at GGDSD College, 23 at DAV, 45 at PGGC-11, and 20 at SGGS College to manage the voter flow. A total of 110 candidates are vying for the four posts of the student council in each college, with 29 candidates in the race for the presidential post alone. In DAV College, the main competition is between HSA (in alliance with HPSU) and SOI (allied with INSO, HIMSU, and SOPU). At GGDSD College, the contest features SDCU (allied with HIMSU and SOPU), ISF (allied with NSUI and HPSU), and SOI, which is contesting the presidential post with a lone female candidate. In SGGS College, Sector 26, KCSU and CSF are the two leading student organisations. Elections will not be held in two of the city's 11 colleges. At Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, all candidates were elected unopposed as only one nominee stood for each post. Similarly, at the Government College for Commerce and Business, Sector 50, the nominations of all but two candidates were rejected due to low attendance, leading to a virtual uncontested election for the vice-president and class representative. Last year's voter turnout figures-37.19% at GGDSD College, 45.46% at DAV, and 46.14% at SGGS College-serve as a reference point. Faculty members expect a comparatively lower turnout this year, with the primary reasons cited as fewer students in hostels and the ongoing rain....