Ruqayyah Hall incident staged, case to be filed: BCL

Bangladesh Chhatra League’s or BCL has threatened to file lawsuits against those involved in staging the ‘drama’ at Ruqayyah Hall and call the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election into ‘question’.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 March 2019, 11:56 AM
Updated : 11 March 2019, 02:00 PM

Leftist DUCSU vice presidential candidate Liton Nandi, Shadharan Chhatra Adhikar Shangrakkhan Parishad vice president candidate Nurul Haque Nur and general secretary candidate Rashed Khan will be named in the case, the BCL leaders said.

The threat came after DUCSU polls, which were held after a gap of 29 years, came to a close at most halls amid allegations of vote rigging and boycotts by the panels of Chhatra Dal, leftist students, quota reformers and the independent candidates.

"We demand that Liton, Nur, Rashed's candidacies be cancelled and they be permanently expelled. They will be sued on charges of hijacking the dreams of ordinary students, "BCL General Secretary Golam Rabbani told bdnews24.com.

Voting resumed at the Ruqayyah Hall after a three-hour suspension due to the discovery of ballot papers stashed in a room during the DUCSU and Hall Council election. The hall had the highest number of voters.

A dispute over sealing ballot boxes between students and the election officials had delayed the start of voting for the DUCSU, and Hall Council election at Ruqqayah Hall by an hour.

The hall authorities opened the polls at around 9pm after the voting boxes were sealed and the situation had calmed somewhat.

Candidates of all the panels, except the BCL, alleged that they had not been shown the ballot boxes before the vote began and three ballot boxes remained missing.

Amidst simmering tension, the angry students snatched away 2,607 ballot papers, according to Returning Officer Prof Farhana Ferdousi.

It was alleged that female students and quota reformers panel’s Nur were attacked by the BCL activists in front of Ruqayyah Hall.

Independent alliance VP candidate Arani Semanti Khan said, "At least four people including Nur were attacked." Oishee, a second-year student of the English department, said, "Some strangers attacked Nur. They were members of BCL."

However, the BCL general secretary rejected the allegations and said Nur was not attacked at Ruqayyah Hall.

“There were 40 of them and we were two. Empty ballot papers were brought there. There were no sealed ballot papers. When Nur was caught, he pretended to faint. It's all drama."

Rabbani asserted that there were no allegations about the polling in 13 halls.

The sealed ballot papers found at the Kuwait Maitree Hall were also fake, he claimed.

Authorities relieved acting provost of Kuwait Maitree Hall Sabnam Jahan of her duties after ballot papers filled for the BCL candidates were discovered.

“We have nothing to say about the decision taken by the authorities," said Rabbani.