“I stood in line for 20 minutes to vote and saw that someone else had already cast my vote. I never thought that my first vote in my life would be wasted like this.”
This was the statement of a voter who had come to vote in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) and Hall Union elections, made this complaint at the Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall polling station on Thursday. Later, the CCTV footage was verified, and the truth of his complaint was confirmed.
The JUCSU elections ended amid various complaints that someone else had cast the vote, the ballots were torn, and the commission’s bias was seen. Although it was supposed to end at 5pm on Thursday, the ballot boxes from Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall, the last centre, reached the Election Commission Office, Senate Hall at 8pm. The results of all the centres will be counted there.
However, JUCSU faced criticism after Election Commission Member Secretary Professor AKM Rashidul Alam said that it may take Friday morning to complete the vote counting and announce the results.
Earlier, in the afternoon on the election day, Chhatra Dal-backed GS candidate Tanjila Hossain Boishakhi made an allegation and announced a boycott of the election. She said: “We knew that this election would be rigged. There is no photo in the voter list of Tajuddin Hall.
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โThat is why the election was closed for two hours. A mob was created in Hall No. 21. The Chhatra Shibir was behind it. A mob was created in Jahanara Imam Hall. The election was closed due to rigging. The administration did not say anything even after the same girl changed her ID card in the girls’ hall and voted repeatedly. We are boycotting the election due to the vote rigging.โ
It is worth noting that this time, there are 11,843 voters in JUCSU. Of these, 6,115 are male students and 5,728 are female students. Each voter cast 40 votes. Of these, 25 are for the central union and 15 for the hall elections.
A total of 178 candidates contested the JUCSU elections this time. Of these, 132 are male candidates and 46 are female candidates. There are 25 posts here.
In addition, a total of 315 posts are in the 21 hall unions, or 15 posts in each hall. A total of 447 candidates were nominated for the election. Of them, 316 are candidates for 11 male halls and 131 are candidates for 10 female halls.
Four panels join the boycott one by one
After the boycott of the Chhatra Dal, candidates from four progressive student panels joined the list of those boycotting the vote by evening. They announced the boycott at a press conference held at the university’s transport complex at around 7:45pm. Sharan Ehsan, the GS candidate of the Sampriti Oikya Panel, read out a written statement at the press conference.
These four panels are โSampritir Oikya,โ โSanshptak Parshad,โ โSwatantr Angikar Parishad,โ and a partial panel of the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front. Several independent candidates also boycotted the elections in solidarity with them.
A mountain of allegations with proof
Faria Zaman Niki, joint general secretary candidate of the โSampritir Oikyaโ panel, told Bangla Tribune: โWe have clear evidence of rigging in the elections. There were so many allegations that they could not be cleared, even at the press conference. There are various irregularities, including not allowing polling agents to enter the centres, giving one person’s vote to another, and closing the polls at various centres. We were not the only ones to make the complaint; the previous night, too, Shibir had expressed no confidence in the Election Commission. Bagchas expressed his no confidence in the election commission at a press conference. All in all, all parties feel that the Election Commission is behaving in a biased manner here; it is conducting an election to take money.โ
Sampriti Oikya Panel GS candidate Sharan Ehsan said: โStarting from the commotion over the ballot box to the announcement of polling agents at 2am on Wednesday, as a result of which independent candidates were unable to manage polling agents, polling agents were not allowed to work, male candidates were allowed to enter if they were women, there was no photo in the voter list, no ink marks on fingers, no name in the list even after becoming a voter, etc. Many irregularities, mismanagement and negligence have created opportunities to raise doubts and questions surrounding this election. This responsibility lies solely and exclusively with this failed, incompetent and biased Election Commission and administration.โ
Teachers boycott election too
Three teachers from the Nationalist Teachers Forum have also boycotted the election and left the centre, alleging irregularities and rigging in the election.
Professor Nahrin Islam Khan, holding a press conference in front of the Election Commission office, said: “The administration has been acting irresponsibly since the beginning. It is committing various irregularities and manipulations. We should not take responsibility for such an election. We, responsible teachers, boycotted this election as a protest.”
Asked about this, Election Commission Member Professor Lutfar Elahi said: โThe voting was fair. We maintained the highest impartiality.โ
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