Rucsu polls: Nomination paper distribution ends after extensions
Rucsu Chief Election Commissioner Prof F Nazrul Islam said submission of nomination papers will begin tomorrow, and the rest of the election process will proceed according to the rescheduled timetable.
After several extensions, the distribution of nomination papers for the Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (Rucsu) election ended today (3 September), with 46 candidates collecting nomination papers on the last day.
According to the Rucsu Election Commission, a total of 479 nomination papers have been collected for the Rucsu and Senate student representative elections, while at least 754 nomination papers were collected for the hall union elections. A majority of them were first-year students.
Rucsu Chief Election Commissioner Prof F Nazrul Islam said submission of nomination papers will begin tomorrow, and the rest of the election process will proceed according to the rescheduled timetable.
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Earlier in the day, first-year students, who have just gained the right to vote, expressed great excitement over the opportunity. Since morning, many of them were seen collecting nomination forms.
By 12pm today, a total of 425 nomination papers, including five for central union and Senate representative posts, had been distributed.
On the same day, first-year students were submitting dope test samples at the university medical centre.
Yesterday, in the face of protests, first-year students were granted the right to vote and to contest in the central union, hall union, and Senate student representative elections.
The polling date remains fixed for 25 September, but the nomination deadline was extended by one day to accommodate the new decision.
Racsu's Chief Returning Officer Prof Setaur Rahman said, "The voter lists, including the first-year students, have already been sent to the residential halls. The process of affiliating the students with their respective halls has been completed. Now, the remaining tasks will be carried out systematically as per the announced schedule."
After the inclusion of the first-year students, the total number of voters stands at around 29,000.
Anas Bin Nahin, a first-year history student, expressed his excitement, "I sincerely thank the university administration for giving us the right to vote in the Rucsu election. This will be the first time in my life that I cast a ballot in any election."
