Vote counting for Jagannath University’s Central Students’ Union (Jnucsu) and hall union elections was abruptly halted Tuesday evening due to technical issues with two counting machines.
The counting had begun around 6:15pm in the university’s central control room (central auditorium) at Shaheed Sajid Bhaban but was immediately halted when discrepancies were detected.
Election Commissioner Prof Shahidul Islam told reporters at 8:50pm that the results from the two machines did not match, prompting the pause.
Later that night, the administration held discussions with the vice-president, general secretary, and assistant general secretary candidates in the Vice-Chancellor’s conference room at 9:30pm, which continued until 11:30pm.
Among the candidates present at the meeting, the panel supported by Islami Chhatra Shibir, Adamya Jabiayan, demanded that the counting be conducted by machine.
On the other hand, the panel backed by Chhatra Dal, Oikko Boddho Nirbhik Jabiayan, demanded manual counting. While the Shibir-backed panel agreed to counting by both methods, they insisted that the machine count should be accepted as the final result.
Oikko Boddho Nirbhik Jabiayan and the Maulana Bhashani Brigade also expressed support for the machine count.
To avoid controversy over the accuracy of the vote count, the Election Commission decided that the counting would be conducted by machine, but its accuracy would be periodically checked manually and cross-verified with the machine count.
Voting had taken place earlier in the day across 39 polling centeres, concluding at 3:30pm amid counter-allegations from different student panels. Following the polls, counting machines were tested in the presence of students and observers before the process began.
According to Chief Election Commissioner Prof Mostofa Hasan, turnout was nearly 65 per cent for the central students’ union and about 77 per cent for hall unions.
This election marks the first student union vote since Jagannath College became a university in 2005; the last such election was held in 1987.
Panels backed by student groups including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir participated in the polls.
