The much-anticipated Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (Rucsu) elections, along with the hall union and senate student representative elections, are set to take place on Thursday.
The Election Commission has finalised all arrangements, including deploying around 2,000 law enforcement personnel to maintain security on campus. Polling will run from 9am to 4pm, with results expected within 17 hours after voting concludes.
Vote counting will be held at the Rucsu Treasurer’s office, and the official results will be announced at the Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium.
Chief Election Commissioner Prof F Nazrul Islam informed these a press conference at the university’s Senate Building on Wednesday afternoon, outlining the detailed polling arrangements.
Voting will take place across 17 centres in nine academic buildings, with a total of 990 booths set up for the approximately 28,901 registered voters.
To prevent election fraud, the commission has introduced a stringent three-step voter verification process. Voters will be identified using their student ID cards, unique voter IDs with photographs and, if necessary, a confidential QR code embedded on the card.
Polling centres are distributed among several academic buildings, with voters assigned specific rooms based on their hall affiliations.
Prof F Nazrul Islam said a total of 212 teachers are assigned to oversee the election, including 17 as presiding officers, the rest as assistant presiding officers, and 91 as polling officers.
Security has been tightened, with 2,000 police officers, six platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh, and 12 platoons of the Rapid Action Battalion deployed. The entire election process is under CCTV surveillance, with transparent ballot boxes ensuring transparency.
Election Commissioner Mustafa Kamal Akand stated that only the exact number of ballots for the 28,901 registered voters have been printed with no extra ballots allowed. The ballots have been securely prepared through an eight-step process by the university’s printing department.
This year, 11 panels, including those backed by Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Shibir, are contesting Rucsu elections. A total of 247 candidates are vying for 23 posts in the central students’ union.
Among them, 18 are running for the position of vice president, 13 for general secretary, and 16 for assistant general secretary. The remaining 200 candidates are contesting for 20 other executive posts.
Additionally, 58 candidates are contesting for five senate student representative seats, and 597 candidates are vying for 15 hall union posts across 17 halls.
The total number of registered voters for Rucsu and senate elections is 28,901, comprising 11,305 female and 17,596 male voters.
