Student elections in colleges and universities of Bengal will be on hold till the completion of the civic polls, education minister Partha Chatterjee said on Friday.

Elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and 92 other civic bodies in Bengal are likely to be held in April.

Holding campus polls in the middle of the civic elections is not possible, the minister said. Police deployment, along with the help of local administration, is needed to conduct polls, he said. Also, college premises will be used to set up polling booths and other election-related work.

“It is not possible to hold campus polls in April if the civic polls are held at that time. Campus polls will have to be put on hold till the completion of the corporation and municipality elections,” minister Chatterjee said.

In October, the government had allowed Jadavpur, Presidency, Rabindra Bharati and Diamond Harbour Women’s universities to hold campus polls whenever they “deemed fit”.

The four universities have recently conducted their campus polls. Jadavpur University held the elections on Wednesday.

A higher education department official said the government had planned to hold campus polls in July after the start of the new academic session. It will not be possible to hold the polls in May or June when undergraduate semester exams will be on.

The order asking 550-odd colleges and 24 universities to put their campus polls on hold will be issued soon, the official said.

The government had earlier said the second phase of the campus polls would be held after the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary exams. The board exams will end in the first week of April.

Campus polls were last held in colleges and universities in January 2017.