The call for using OMR machines instead of the manual counting method in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) election took a dramatic turn Friday afternoon, when Professor Dr Sultana Akhter, returning officer of Nawab Faizunnesa Hall and a teacher of the History Department, issued a scathing rebuke to the Election Commission.
“Do you want results over a teacher’s dead body? I will not count votes over the body of my colleague,” she declared through the commission’s microphone at the vote-counting room around 4pm.
Her outrage came hours after polling officer Jannatul Ferdous collapsed and died Friday morning, following a night of continuous vote counting.
“I demand that the counting be stopped in respect to my colleague’s death. We want OMR machine-based counting, not the outdated manual process,” Prof Sultana said.
She accused the EC of misleading officials, saying: “In the briefing, we were told we wouldn’t need to be present during counting, only to sign off as returning officers.
But one of my polling officers called me and asked, ‘Madam, have you made me a servant?’ He was unwell and unable to continue. If polling officers cannot work, we cannot begin the count at Nawab Faizunnesa Hall.”
“How many more colleagues must fall sick? If the manual method continues, it will take three days to finish,” she warned.
Prof Sultana further questioned the EC’s shifting stance: “If you were going to use the traditional method, why didn’t you inform us earlier? We would have done the hall-level counting ourselves. We cannot manage this by hand.”
Visibly shaken, she blamed “gross mismanagement” at the university for her colleague’s death.
“I am in pain, I am angry. The university’s negligence is responsible, and I want justice for this death.”
