The left-leaning student panel, Sampriti’s Unity Forum, has alleged widespread irregularities in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) and hall elections, saying Thursday’s voting was not conducted fairly.
At an emergency press conference held at the university’s Murad Chattar around 3 pm, the panel’s General Secretary (GS) candidate, Sharan Ehsan, said the voting process was marred by irregularities and harassment of polling agents.
“After 2 am last night we were informed that candidates would be allowed to place polling agents in the centres,” Sharan said. “But when our agents arrived at the polling centres this morning, they were harassed in various ways. The irregularities began with the cancellation of our Vice President (VP) candidate Amartya Roy’s nomination. Today in several halls our polling agents were not allowed to enter. The administration asked us to trust them while the voting continued, which calls the entire process into question.”
The Unity Forum alleged that candidates backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir distributed notes to influence voters at polling centres. “These actions indicate the election is not being conducted properly,” Sharan added.
The Chhatra Dal-backed panel also boycotted the election earlier in the day, accusing the university administration of collusion with Jamaat-e-Islami-backed groups to engineer the results. Its General Secretary (GS) candidate, Tanzila Hossain Baishakhi, announced the boycott at an afternoon press briefing.
Sharan Ehsan, former president of Jahangirnagar Sangskritik Jote, further said irregularities had plagued the process from the start. “Since the election process began, we have noticed a lack of transparency and repeated violations of election rules. The commission failed to act on complaints of code-of-conduct breaches during campaigning. Candidates were supposed to undergo dope tests on September 9, but many didn’t comply, and the commission has yet to release the test results. These failures have eroded confidence in the commission.”
