The Election Commission of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) has dismissed allegations of irregularities following reports of pre-filled ballot papers found at the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC).
According to the Chief Returning Officer Prof Mohammad Jasim Uddin, the incident took place around 11am on September 9, election day, when a female voter collected a ballot from Table No 1 and entered the booth. After spending more than a minute inside, she came out claiming that one of her ballots already had marks in favour of two candidates.
Jasim claimed, the student refused to cast her vote using the alleged pre-filled ballot. Polling officials at the centre immediately collected the disputed ballot, sealed it separately, and provided her with a new ballot paper. She then re-entered the booth, cast her vote, and left the centre.
The EC said the disputed ballot was preserved, and the university formed a committee to investigate the matter. Three teachers present at the scene confirmed the account given by the centre chief. “The issue was resolved on the spot, and the process was not broken,” the EC stated.
They further claimed that video footage collected from the polling centre showed, the female student entered the booth four times, first for about 40 seconds, second for 66 seconds, third for only 2 seconds, and the fourth time for more than 10 minutes.
The EC noted that although the student eventually cast her vote and left, her repeated entries, extended stay inside the booth, and conversations with others present were “suspicious” and are being examined closely.
Earlier, a candidate, on condition of anonymity, told the Times of Bangladesh that a returning officer had confirmed the CCTV footage of the pre-filled ballot incident at TSC had been “deleted” and that efforts were underway to recover it.
Dhaka University Proctor Dr Saifuddin Ahmed confirmed that CCTV footage related to the pre-filled ballot incident at the TSC still exists, but said it will not be made public at this time.
“We have the footage, but we are not planning to release it right now. It will be reviewed once the investigation into the voter is complete, as her conduct appeared suspicious,” he added.
However, following the incident, Prof Nasrin Sultana, the officer in charge of the polling centre, told the press that the CCTV footage was supposed to be checked promptly and the matter clarified by 1:30pm on the day of voting.
