Another JUCSU election commissioner quits amid chaos in vote counting

With this, three officials and two election commissioners have now stepped down

Confusion has continued to mount over the vote-counting process in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) election, with yet another member of the election commission stepping down.

On Saturday, while vote counting was still ongoing, Rezwana Karim Snigdha, an associate professor of anthropology, resigned from her post as a commission member, according to the university’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Md Mahfuzur Rahman.

Snigdha had been the representative of the Anthropology Department on the Sociology Building Committee of the Bangabandhu Teachers’ Council.

With her resignation, two election commissioners and three officials have now withdrawn from their duties.

Soon after voting began on Thursday, various candidates from different panels raised complaints of irregularities and inconsistencies. However, at the time, no one directly alleged ballot rigging.

Candidates alleged that more ballots had been issued than the number of votes cast at some centres, that rival groups violated the code of conduct, that ballot papers and OMR machines had been purchased from a Jamaat-e-Islami-linked company. They also claimed that polling agents were barred from entering centres despite having permission, that results of mandatory dope tests had not been released, and that there were attempts to “manipulate” the election.

Against this backdrop, at 3:30pm on Thursday -- just one and a half hours before voting was scheduled to end -- general secretary candidate Tanjila Hossain Boishakhi from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal-backed panel announced a boycott of the election. Standing beside her at the time was the panel’s vice-president candidate Sheikh Sadi Hasan.

Subsequently, the “Shompritir Oikko” panel, backed by one faction of the Bangladesh Chhatra Union, also announced a lack of confidence in the election commission.

In addition, three university teachers withdrew from their election duties. They are Prof Nazrul Islam, head of the Mathematics Department, along with professors Nahrin Islam and Shamima Sultana.

Meanwhile, during the counting of student union ballots on Friday, Election Commissioner Prof Mafruhi Sattar also resigned, citing irregularities and mismanagement.

Mafruhi of the Pharmacy Department is currently the president of the Jahangirnagar University unit of the BNP-aligned Jatiyatabadi Teachers’ Forum.