Counting underway in Cucsu polls

The Chittagong University Central Students' Union (Cucsu) and hall council elections were held mostly peacefully yesterday.

However, several student panels brought allegations of mismanagement against the university administration and the Election Commission.

Polling began about 30 minutes later than scheduled, but concluded at 4:00pm as planned. Around 70 percent of registered students cast their votes at 15 polling centres across five faculty buildings, according to election officials.

Vote counting started around 5:15pm in the presence of polling agents, with the process monitored through CCTV cameras, said Election Commissioner Anwar Hossain.

Some groups, including the Chhatra Dal panel, lodged complaints about ballots lacking official signatures, erasable ink, and overall mismanagement, said Chief Election Commissioner Monir Uddin.

Three student panels — Boichitrer Oikya, Droho Parishad, and Ahingsho Shikkharthi Ekota — also accused the administration and the EC of bias.

"We are seeing many signs that the election was not fair -- the administration has not done its job properly," said Dhrubo Barua, the VP candidate from the Boichitrer Oikya panel.

He also brought allegations of irregularities against both the Shibir-supported and Chhatra Dal-supported panels.

Rizu Lakshmi Aborodh, the vice-president candidate from Droho Parshad, made the same allegations.

"This election commissioner is incompetent -- we can no longer trust this spineless commissioner to conduct a fair election," Abdullah Al Noman, general secretary of Chhatra Dal's CU unit, told reporters around 4:15pm.

There were eight complaints of rule violations against one panel, but no punishment was given, he said.

"This administration supports Jamaat, and the commission has no backbone. Even though we knew this, we participated in the election for the sake of democracy and students. But now we see that, like the Ducsu and Jucsu elections, this is also becoming a farce," Noman added.

Ibrahim Hossain, the VP candidate from the Shibir-backed panel Sompritir Shikkharthi Oikya, also raised several complaints.

Outsiders were seen with candidates, including the Chhatra Dal general secretary candidate from Alaol Hall, inside voting centres, he said at a press conference in front of the Cucsu building. No one is supposed to enter the university without a proper ID, and the administration failed to stop the entry of outsiders.

"The ink used for voting was supposed to be permanent, but we saw that it could be wiped off. The EC and the administration should have been more careful about this."

Miftahul Jannat, a law department student, discovered that someone had already voted using her name.

When asked, Kauser Hamid, assistant presiding officer, said that another person with a similar name had voted and polling agents did not object. The issue was reported to the CEC.

Additionally, election observer Touhidul Islam reported that 400 ballots at the Faculty of Business Administration lacked the election officer's signature.

CEC Monir Uddin confirmed 80 unsigned ballots in the Faculty of Business Administration and 16 in the Faculty of Engineering.

The EC is investigating the matter, he said.

According to observers, the panels of Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir were in a close contest.

Until midnight, Chhatra Dal's VP candidate Sajjad Hossain was leading in three halls where results were being announced. He secured 141 votes at Masterda Surya Sen Hall, 34 votes at Shilpi Rashid Chowdhury Hostel, and 223 votes at Atish Dipankar Shrigyan Hall.

His opponent, Shibir's Ibrahim Roni, received 130, 27, and 90 votes, respectively.

For the AGS post, Chhatra Dal's Ayubur Rahman was ahead in all three halls, bagging 38 votes at Shilpi Rashid Chowdhury Hostel, 170 at Surya Sen Hall, and 266 at Atish Dipankar Shrigyan Hall.

For the GS post, candidates from three different panels were leading in three separate halls -- Shibir's Sayed Bin Habib in one, Baitrityer Oikko's Sudarshan Chakma in another, and Chhatra Dal's Md Shakhawat Hossain in the third.

Meanwhile, Kazi Tarek Aziz, additional superintendent of police of Hathazari Circle, was injured while trying to control a tense situation that erupted between local Jamaat and BNP activists at the Chittagong University (CU) main gate over the CUCSU election last night.

The injured officer received primary treatment at the CU Medical Centre and was later sent to the Dampara Police Lines Hospital for better care.

At the time of filing this report, supporters of both BNP and Jamaat remained positioned at CU Gate No 1.

The incident occurred around 10:45pm, when the university authorities were announcing the CUCSU election results on campus.