No bar to Ducsu polls on 9 Sept as Appellate Division upholds stay on HC order
Earlier, the High Court had suspended the Ducsu election till 30 October.
There is no bar now to holding the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) and hall union elections on 9 September in line with the announced schedule, as the Appellate Division has upheld a stay on the High Court order postponing the polls.
A full appellate Bench led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed issued the order after a hearing today (3 September).
The High Court, on 1 September, postponed the election until 30 October after hearing a writ petition, filed by a candidate from a left-leaning student alliance on 31 August, that challenged the nomination of SM Farhad, the Ducsu general secretary candidate from the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel.
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The petitioner, BM Fahmida Alam, alleged that Farhad was involved with the now-banned Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The High Court had directed the university authorities to investigate the matter and submit a report by 21 October.
However, within 40 minutes of that order, Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir, representing Dhaka University, filed an appeal, and the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division stayed the postponement of the polls.
Dhaka University argued that there was no request in the original petition to halt the election and that doing so, after all preparations had been finalised, could provoke student reactions.
The case was then referred to a full Appellate Bench, which has now upheld the stay, clearing the way for the election to proceed as scheduled.
Following the ruling, Dhaka University's lawyer Shishir Monir told reporters, "The full bench of the Appellate Division has upheld the Chamber Court's order that stayed the High Court's directive to halt the election till 30 October.
"This means there is no longer any legal barrier to holding the Ducsu election on 9 September in a festive environment."
Monir thanked all parties involved for their cooperation and urged everyone, including candidates and journalists, to work together to ensure a credible election.
'Malafide intention'
He argued before the Appellate Division that the writ petition against the election was filed with "malafide intention."
He pointed out that the university had published a preliminary list of candidates on 21 August and a final list on 26 August, but no complaints were filed with the Ducsu Election Commission regarding any candidate's eligibility.
The writ was filed on 28 August based on "wrong information," he added.
Monir also confirmed that there is no longer any obstacle for SM Farhad, the general secretary candidate from the 'Oikkoboddho Shikkharthi Jote' panel backed by Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing, to participate in the election.
"The court accepted our argument that a stay is not possible when the rule of the case itself is not applicable," he explained.
According to the preliminary list of candidates, 48 candidates are running for the Ducsu vice president post, 19 for general secretary and 28 for assistant general secretary.
Including other positions, a total of 462 candidates have been declared eligible to contest. Notably, Ducsu has 28 posts, including VP, GS, and AGS.
On the other hand, the final voter list shows a total of 39,775 registered voters, with 20,873 male and 18,902 female students eligible to vote in this election.
