Rucsu election: 25% votes cast in first 2 hours
Students appeared in a festive mood, excited to cast their votes in this long-awaited election
Voting began in the Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (Rucsu), hall unions, and Senate elections in a festive environment.
At least 25% votes were cast in two hours from 9am till 11:15am, confirmed Chief Returning Officer Professor Setaur Rahman.
He said students have shown great enthusiasm, and they are casting their votes in a spirited and lively atmosphere.
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The voting started at 9am today (16 October) and will continue till 4pm.
Balloting is taking place in 17 centres across 9 academic buildings, with a total of 990 polling booths set up for voters.
Before 9am, long queues of enthusiastic voters were seen waiting outside polling centres. Students appeared in a festive mood, excited to cast their votes in this long-awaited election.
At the Jagadish Chandra Bose Academic Building, Presiding Officer Professor Ariful Islam said, "A total of 1,862 voters from Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy Hall are registered to vote at this center. We have shown the empty transparent ballot boxes to the polling agents before sealing them. Once preparations were complete, voting began smoothly."
He added that the centre has 60 polling booths, and each voter is being provided with six ballot papers after identification and the application of indelible ink on their hand.
"Voters cast their ballots in private booths and drop them into six separate ballot boxes," he said.
From around 8am, students were seen entering the campus to participate in the polls. Voters are entering through six university gates, including the main gate and the Kazla Gate. Residential students are voting directly after coming from their dormitories, while non-residential voters are allowed to enter through any of the six gates but can exit only through the main gate or the Station Bazar gate.
Fahim Hasan, a first-year student of the Islamic Studies Department, was standing in a queue outside the Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Haque polling centre. He told The Business Standard that he, along with his friends, came early to avoid any chaos.
"I have no words to express my feelings, as this is the first time I am going to exercise my voting power in my entire life - in any election," he said.
"We request the university authorities to hold the Rucsu elections every year so that students can choose their preferred student leaders," he added.
Achintamoy Hajon, a student of the Department of Anthropology, said, "This is the first vote of my life. For the first time, I was able to cast my vote for the candidate of my choice."
Syed As Sadat, a student of the Department of Fisheries, said, "I came from my dormitory early in the morning to vote. I really like the overall atmosphere - everyone is joyfully casting their votes in a festive environment."
A large number of security personnel have been deployed across the campus, including at every entry point and polling centre, to ensure peaceful voting. Every voter is being thoroughly checked before entering the polling centres.
Voting is taking place in Rucsu elections after 35 years.
A total of 39,775 students are registered as voters in this election. They will exercise their right to vote to elect representatives from among 247 candidates contesting for 23 Rucsu posts.
