Jucsu polls: Central union vote counting continues for day three
Jucsu Election Commission member Prof Lutful Elahi said around 9am today that counting in the remaining halls is expected to be finished by 1pm
Highlights
- Central union vote counting underway; expected to be done by 1pm
- Counting resumed yesterday after a polling officer's death
- Thursday's voting faced rigging allegations and panel boycotts
The counting of ballots in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (Jucsu) elections has so far been completed in 15 halls, while counting in the remaining six halls is still underway.
Vote counting for both the central and hall union elections at Jahangirnagar University continued into its third day today (13 September) at the university's Senate Building.
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Earlier, Jucsu Election Commission member Prof Lutful Elahi said around 9am today, "Vote counting in a total of 14 halls has been completed. We hope the remaining halls will be finished by 1pm."
The long-awaited polls, held after 33 years, took place on Thursday (11 September) from 9am to 5pm without interruption.
Counting began later that night around 10:15pm but has yet to conclude as the process is being carried out manually.
Although election commission members had earlier indicated possible timelines for completion, those have not been met.
Proctor and Election Commission Member-Secretary AKM Rashidul Alam told reporters on Friday that the results were expected to be finalised and unofficially announced between 10pm and 11pm.
Chief Election Commissioner Prof Md Moniruzzaman said, "We tried to announce the results by Friday night, but it was not possible to give a specific time."
"After the tragic death of one of our colleagues, the counting process had slowed down. Following another meeting with the vice-chancellor, the process resumed," he added.
Moniruzzaman further said, "We have increased manpower to speed up the process, while ensuring transparency in front of the candidates' agents. No one outside of the commission is involved in the counting."
Earlier on Thursday, voting ended around 6:00pm amid allegations of vote rigging, mismanagement and boycott by five panels, including the Chhatra Dal.
Meanwhile, Professor Mohammad Mafruhi Sattar, a member of the Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (Jucsu) election commission, has resigned, citing irregularities and the commission's failure to act on complaints during the polls.
Speaking at a press conference in front of the university's New Arts Building last night (12 September), Sattar said, "I decided to step down because vote counting continued without addressing complaints raised during the polls."
"I repeatedly requested the commission to address the complaints and the problems that arose during the voting process, and to suspend the election until those issues were resolved," he added.
