Vote counting for the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) election has finally concluded, 48 hours after voting ended, marking the end of a prolonged and chaotic process.
The announcement came on Saturday at 2:15pm from the university’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof Sohel Ahmed.
When asked about the timing of the results, Chief Election Commissioner Prof Md Moniruzzaman said, “Counting is complete. There are a few final procedures left. We hope to announce the results shortly after that.”
Voting began on Thursday at 9am across all 21 residential halls of the university, which has a student population of around 12,000. While most halls wrapped up voting by 5pm, delays in a few extended the process until 7:30pm. Vote counting began under tight security at the Senate Building around 10pm Thursday night.
According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout was around 68 per cent.
The biggest disruption in the process came when the Election Commission abruptly decided to abandon machine-based counting, following allegations that the ballot papers and OMR machines were sourced from a company with alleged ties to Jamaat-e-Islami. This led the Commission to switch to manual counting, causing massive delays and logistical challenges.
A returning officer said on Friday afternoon that with approximately 8,000 voters casting three ballots each for the central union, the total number of ballots to be manually counted stood at around 24,000.
While counting for the hall union elections concluded by Friday evening, JUCSU vote counting began at 8pm Friday and continued uninterrupted for 18 hours, wrapping up on Saturday afternoon.
Now, with counting completed, the campus eagerly awaits the official results – expected to be declared later on Saturday.
