Jagannath University polls suspended after ballot error causes 2-hour delay

Authorities hold emergency meeting with candidates

The election commission of Jagannath University’s Central Student Union (JnUCSU) has run into a problem while counting votes following a peaceful polling process.

Vote counting has been suspended since 7pm on Tuesday after a discrepancy was detected in a single ballot paper, officials said.

Election Commissioner Prof Md Shahidul Islam announced at 9:30pm, “We conducted three days of trial runs on the OMR machines, and no issues arose then. A technical error has now been detected.

“We will meet with the central and hall union VP and GS candidates in the vice-chancellor’s conference room to decide on a solution. We will inform the media once a decision is made.”

Polling for the central student union and one hall student representative concluded at 4pm. All ballot boxes were brought to the university’s central auditorium, and counting of central union votes began at 6:30pm using six OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) machines.

The counting was briefly halted after 15 minutes due to overcrowding. Students and journalists were asked to leave, and counting resumed half an hour later.

However, a discrepancy in one ballot paper was detected, forcing another suspension at 7pm. Counting had not resumed by 9:30pm.

A source involved in the process told bdnews24.com that each voter cast votes for 21 JnUCSU positions on a three-page OMR sheet, marking a cross (X) in a small square box next to each candidate’s name.

The counting began with votes from the Department of Geography and Environment. Each ballot’s three pages were run through three machines for counting and then verified on three other machines.

Prof Shahidul said, “We are trying to adjust the count for the second run and will identify the source of the discrepancy shortly.” Due to the unresolved issue, he announced an emergency meeting with VP and GS candidates to decide the next steps.

When asked what would happen if the problem is not resolved, a commission member told bdnews24.com, “In that case, we may have to consider manual counting.”

A total of 16,645 students were eligible to vote in the JnUCSU election, with an estimated turnout of about 65 percent, according to Election Commissioner Zulfiker Mahmud.

On the same day, voting was also held for Nawab Faizunnesa Chowdhurani Hall, where 1,242 students were eligible and turnout was nearly 77 percent. Ballots for the hall union were one page each, and counting has not yet begun.