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Published : 11 Sep 2025, 06:05 PM
Voting for the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union and hall councils has ended, overshadowed by allegations of irregularities, disorder and a boycott by the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
Voting began across 21 halls at 9am on Thursday and closed at 5pm without any major outbreaks of violence.
On a campus of nearly 12,000 students, polling started slowly but turnout grew as the day progressed.
Heavy rain later in the afternoon left non-residential students struggling to cast their votes, while residential students faced no such difficulty.
A total of 177 candidates are contesting for 25 posts in the central council, with 445 vying for hall positions.
One of the earliest reported irregularities occurred in the Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall, where a ballot paper error sparked confusion among voters.
The ballot instructions indicated that only one candidate should be marked, whereas voters were supposed to select three candidates for the executive member post. The error was later corrected.
In Fazilatunnesa Hall, voting was suspended for over an hour following complications linked to complaints of misconduct.
According to students, Chhatra Dal general secretary (GS) candidate Tanzila Hossain Boishakhi attempted to enter the hall during the afternoon but was reportedly denied access.
Later, around 12:30pm, Chhatra Dal vice-president (VP) candidate Sheikh Sadi Hasan entered the polling centre alleging vote rigging, which triggered fresh tensions.
Similar disruption was reported at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Hall, where voting halted for 30 minutes.
Journalists faced obstruction at women’s polling centres, with even female reporters denied entry.
Amid these developments, Chhatra Dal’s GS hopeful Tanzila announced a boycott at 3:30pm, an hour and a half before polls closed.
She told a press conference: “A Jamaat leader’s company has been assigned the responsibility of supplying broadcast and video cameras for CCTV surveillance of polling stations, effectively handing [Islami Chhatra] Shibir the chance to monitor the entire election.
“To thwart our victory, the university administration has colluded with Jamaat-Shibir to engineer this election. The true verdict of students is not being reflected. That is why we are forced to withdraw.”
From morning onwards, candidates complained of irregularities but refrained from direct vote-rigging claims until later.
Allegations included ballot surpluses at centres, opposition members violating conduct rules, the use of ballot papers and OMR machines allegedly provided by a Jamaat-affiliated company, denial of access to polling agents despite having authorisation, and the absence of required dope test results for some candidates.
By midday, the Chhatra Dal panel formally alleged that ballot papers and OMR machines came from Jamaat-linked firms, accusing the administration of “designing a blueprint for Shibir’s victory”.
Following the complaints, the Election Commission decided to abandon machine counting and switch to manual counting.
Officials said votes would be counted hall by hall, with the final results to be announced later from the Senate Hall.
