Early results show neck-and-neck race for JnUCSU VP

VP race goes down to the wire in JnUCSU polls Candidates from the Chhatra Dal-backed Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian panelare currently ahead

Preliminary results from seven departments in the Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) election indicate a closely contested race for the post of vice-president (VP).

Candidates from the Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian panel, backed by Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, are currently ahead in the VP contest. Meanwhile, candidates from the Odommo Jobian Oikko panel, supported by Islami Chhatra Shibir, are leading the races for general secretary and assistant general secretary.

At 7:30am on Wednesday, three members of the Election Commission announced the results from four centres. Around an hour and a half later, they announced the results for two more.

According to the partial results, AKM Rakib of the Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian panel is leading the VP race with 758 votes, narrowly ahead of Riazul Islam of the Odommo Jobian Oikko panel, who has 723 votes.

The Odommo Jobian Oikya panel’s Abdul Alim Arif is far ahead in the general secretary race with 740 votes, with his closest competitor Khadijatul Kubra of the Oikyabodhha Nirbhik Jobian panel with 390 votes.

Odommo Jobian Oikya’s Masud Rana leads the AGS race with 718 votes, but Oikyaboddha Nirbhik Jobian’s Atiqul Islam Tanzil is close behind with 650 votes.

Voting took place from 9am to 4pm at 39 polling centres at the university on Tuesday.

The Election Commission said that the results of the remaining centres are being counted and will be announced in phases.

For the first time in two decades since its transformation into a university, the JnUCSU and hall student representative elections was held peacefully on Tuesday. After polls closed at 4pm, the ballot boxes were brought to the university's central auditorium.

At 6:30pm, the counting of votes for the central student union began using six OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) machines. But due to discrepancies in the counting data, the counting was suspended for an extended period.

The counting resumed late at night. It was morning by the time the results of the first four centres were announced.

A total of 278 votes from the Anthropology Department will be counted by hand. Then, the remaining votes will be counted using the regular methods after verifying the accuracy of the OMR machine counts.

A total of 16,645 voters can cast their ballots in the polls. Election Commissioner Zulfikar Mahmud had earlier estimated the turnout was about 65 percent.

Voting also took place for the council of the only residential hall at the university - Nawab Faizunnesa Chowdhurani Hall. The total number of voters in the hall was 1,242. The turnout was about 77 percent.