RUCSU elections: Voting begins after 35 years
The long-awaited elections to the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU), hall unions and student representatives in the university senate are underway today, Thursday, after a 35-year hiatus.
This marks the 17th RUCSU election in the 72-year history of Rajshahi University (RU).
Like other public universities in the country, no student union polls have been held at RU since 1990.
After several delays and rescheduled dates, students are finally exercising their voting rights to elect their representatives.
The balloting began at 9:00 am and will continue until 4:00 pm.
Election commissioner professor Mustafa Kamal Akand on Wednesday said that no extra ballot papers have been printed for the election.
Speaking at a press conference at the university’s Senate Building, he said the RUCSU ballot papers were not printed from any random or nameless press.
“We assigned experienced printers who usually handle university exams or question papers,” he said.
“There are 28,901 voters, and we have printed exactly 28,901 ballots,” Kamal added, claiming that there is no scope for any discrepancy.
Voting is taking place in 17 centres across nine academic buildings, with a total of 990 booths.
Professor Mustafa Kamal Akand said, “We have already procured a sufficient number of watermark reader machines for vote counting. These machines will allow us to publish results within 15 to 17 hours.”
He said all election-related activities are being monitored through CCTV cameras, and transparent ballot boxes are being used.
A total of 212 teachers are overseeing the election, including 17 presiding officers and the rest serving as assistant presiding officers.
Besides, 91 university officials are performing duties as polling officers.
Chief Election Commissioner professor F Nazrul Islam, Chief Returning Officer professor Setaur Rahman, and other election commissioners were also present at the briefing.
According to the commission, the total number of voters stands at 28,901, including 11,305 female students and 17,595 male students.
This time, 247 candidates are contesting 23 posts in the central RUCSU election, while 58 candidates are vying for five seats in the university senate.
For the hall union polls, 597 candidates are contesting 252 posts across 17 residential halls, with 42 candidates elected unopposed.
In the central RUCSU race, 18 candidates are running for vice president (VP), 13 for general secretary (GS), and 16 for assistant general secretary (AGS).
To ensure transparency, the university authorities have formed a 10-member committee to monitor the overall conduct of the election, headed by retired economics professor M Rafiqul Islam.
For security, around 2,000 police personnel, along with six platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and 12 teams of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), have been deployed, said Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Abu Sufian.