Cucsu polls results expected tonight: CU Pro-VC
There will be no unnecessary delay in vote counting, says Pro-VC Kamal Uddin
The results of the Chittagong University Central Students' Union (Cucsu) election are expected to be announced tonight, university authorities said.
As of 8pm on Wednesday (15 October), the Election Commission had not yet released information on voter turnout.
Speaking to The Business Standard over the phone, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Administration) Professor Kamal Uddin said the vote counting was underway.
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"The vote counting is ongoing in the presence of the candidates' polling agents. We expect to start releasing hall-wise results shortly, and we are hopeful that the final results will be announced centrally by tonight," he said.
Voting for the long-awaited CUCSU election began at 9am amid enthusiasm and a festive atmosphere and continued until 4pm for voters who were still in line. The vote counting process started in the evening.
Apart from a few stray incidents, the voting was conducted peacefully, said Professor Saidur Rahman Chowdhury, a member of the Election Commission and Head of the IT Cell.
The vote counting may take 7 to 8 hours, and the formal announcement of results will be made on Thursday, he added.
The university authorities had taken extensive security measures throughout the day to ensure a fair and smooth election process.
Professor Kamal Uddin said, "There will be no unnecessary delay in vote counting. Each presiding officer has a photo-based voter list to verify identities, leaving no room for fraudulent voting. We have not received any formal complaints since yesterday."
Voting took place in five faculties with 15 centres designated for the university's 15 residential halls. A total of 689 booths were set up across 60 rooms to facilitate the process. The entire process was displayed live on 14 LED screens across the campus.
Ballots were cast on paper, but counting is being carried out using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) machines to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
According to the Election Commission, a total of 908 candidates are contesting this year's CUCSU elections — 415 for central positions, representing 13 panels and independent candidates, and 493 for hall and hostel councils.
