Counting going on till 6:00am; turnout 78% in polls marked by festivities

Significant number Chhatra Shibir leaders and activists among them

Voters stood in long queues in blazing September heat yesterday, eager to cast what was, for most, the first ballot of their lives.

Brimming with excitement and hope, thousands of students cast their votes in the Ducsu and hall union elections yesterday, as renewed democratic spirit and festive energy swept through the Dhaka University campus.

Mushtuq Husain, who was elected Ducsu general secretary in 1989, expects the rise of a new generation of politics in Bangladesh in the wake of this year’s central student union polls in Dhaka University.

It was 78% this time, a leap from 50-60% in the 1970s and ‘80s

The 12-day campaign for the Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (Jucsu) and hall elections, which began on August 29, ended yesterday.

Arifullah, the vice president (VP) candidate of the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Samannito Shikkharthi Jote panel in the Jucsu polls, has pledged to resolve session jams and build a student-friendly campus, if elected.

Sheikh Sadi Hasan, vice president candidate from the Jatiyabadi Chhatra Dal-backed panel in the Jucsu election, has pledged to ensure that the culture of guestrooms and gonorooms never returns to campus if he wins.

Mohammad Sharan Ehsan, general secretary candidate for the left-leaning “Sampritir Oikya” panel in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union election, will work to include the election schedule and dates in the academic calendar to ensure continuity if elected.

Results expected around midnight

SC also stays HC order that allowed him to contest the polls

Jamaat, Shibir activists gathering around the campus with arms since morning, he says

"Presiding and polling officers here are highly educated, which will not be the case nationwide"

With this Ducsu poll being the first since the July uprising, I decided to witness history with my own eyes -- this time as a journalist and alumnus

Faruk Hawlader, a resident of Surya Sen Hall, cast his vote at the Udayan school centre in the morning

Between 10:30am and 12:30pm today, correspondents visiting the TSC and Physical Education Centre polling stations noted several voters selectively casting ballots

Earlier the RO had told this newspaper that Abidul had violated the electoral code

Students started casting their votes at 8:00am across polling centres set up in residential halls amid tight security

Ducsu election is being held at eight centres of the campus with nearly 40,000 registered voters and 471 candidates vying for 28 central posts.