Jucsu: 'You didn't win, there was a miscount', EC tells initial winner of Rafiq-Jabbar Hall dining secy

During the announcement of the Jahangirnagar University (JU) hall union election results, Ashraful Islam was declared winner for the post of dining and canteen secretary of Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall. But shortly afterwards, the hall provost phoned him saying, "You are not the winner, there was a miscount—we are sorry."

A total of 509 votes were shown to have been cast for the four candidates contesting the post, even though the hall's total valid votes were only 469. This discrepancy immediately raised questions over the counting process. Various irregularities came to light soon after the results were published on Saturday.

Initially, Ashraful Islam was announced to have secured 132 votes. His rivals Lutfor Rahman Rifat received 129, Md Yusuf 125, and Md Abu Sayem 123 votes. Altogether, these added up to 509 votes—40 more than the actual valid votes.

"According to the Election Commission's announcement, I was the winner. Later, the provost informed me there had been a counting error and that I actually received 92 votes. It is frustrating that such a mistake occurred even after so much time," Ashraful said.

Hall Provost Professor Abdus Sattar Joy explained, "The error occurred because the counting was done in two separate tallies. The number '4' [in Bangla] was mistakenly read as the English '8', which caused the confusion."

No winner has yet been officially declared for the Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall dining and canteen secretary post. TBS tried to contact the officials for comment, but they could not be reached by phone.

Elsewhere, at Jahanara Imam Hall, it was found that although 242 votes were actually cast, the Election Commission's result sheet recorded 247 votes—five more than the real count. In the same hall, both Lamia Jannat and Sadia Jannat received 113 votes each for the Assistant General Secretary (AGS) post.

The Election Commission instructed that both should share the responsibility for a one-year term, with each serving six months. However, one of Lamia's votes was cancelled because the "tick mark" had slightly crossed outside the designated box. Allegations were raised that similar votes in other halls were not cancelled.

Lamia Jannat said, "One of my votes was cancelled just because the tick mark went slightly outside the box. Yet in other halls, similar votes were accepted. Since the votes were counted manually, such ballots should not be rejected. This is unfair to me."

The hall's Returning Officer, Nasrin Khatun, said, "The Election Commission instructed us to cancel any vote if the mark goes outside the designated space. So, that vote was cancelled."

In addition, an analysis of votes in Maulana Bhashani Hall revealed that Nihla Ong Marma, who contested for central union executive member from the "Sampritir Oikyo" (Unity of Harmony) panel, received zero votes.

This prompted voter Relong Khumi to question, "I personally voted for her, yet she received no votes."

Relong said, "Many from our indigenous community live in Bhashani Hall, and she has friends here as well. Yet she did not get a single vote. It is surprising!"

Regarding these disputes, Chief Election Commissioner Prof Moniruzzaman said, "Any issues regarding counting errors will be addressed by the returning officers. We announced the results we received. Anyone wishing to contest the results must submit a written complaint to the Jucsu president, that is, the vice-chancellor."