Voting for the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) and Hall Union elections, which started at 9am on Thursday, faced interruptions due to heavy rain.
The rain, which began around 10:45am, caused power outages in several residential halls, halting voting temporarily in some centers.
According to students, halls affected by power outages include No 10 Hall, Maulana Bhashani Hall, Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall, Fazilatunnesa Hall, AFM Kamaluddin Hall, Preetilata Hall, and Bir Pratik Taramon Bibi Hall.
Abdus Sattar, the hall provost and center chief at Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall, told the media, “The power outage caused booths to become dark, and voting was halted for about 10 minutes. However, voting resumed once the power was restored.”
In other halls such as Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Hall and Sheikh Russell Hall, voting continued using generators, while in No 10 Hall, voters used charger lights for illumination.
This year’s election has a total of 11,747 voters, with 178 candidates competing for various positions. Among the candidates are 9 for the Vice President (VP) role, 9 for General Secretary (GS), 6 for Joint General Secretary (Women), and 10 for Joint General Secretary (Men).
Voting is taking place across 224 booths in 21 university halls, which include 10 women’s halls and 11 men’s halls. Each center is staffed with a returning officer, 67 polling officers, and 67 assistant polling officers.
Voters will cast their ballots on 40 separate ballots, combining both central and hall union elections, and the votes will be counted using special OMR machines.
In this election, 25 per cent of the candidates for JUCSU are female, with the remaining 75 per cent male. No female candidates are running for the VP position, while 2 women are among the 15 candidates for GS. Four other positions do not feature any female candidates.
Across all hall unions, 24.4 per cent of the candidates are female, with no candidates for 15 positions in five women’s halls.
A total of eight panels are participating, supported by the Left, Shibir, Chhatra Dal, and independent groups. Chhatra Dal is fielding Sheikh Sadi Hassan for VP and Tanzila Hossain Baishakhi for GS.
The “Shikkharthi Oikkyo Forum” panel, led by Arifuzzaman Ujjal and Abu Tauhid Mohammad Siam, is also in the race. Other panels include “Independent Shikkharthi Sammilon” with Abdul Rashid Jitu for VP and Mohammad Shakil Ali for GS, and Shibir’s “Shomonnito Shikkharthi Jot” with Arifulah Adib for VP and Mazharul Islam for GS.
The “Shompreetir Oikkya” panel has Shoron Ehsan for GS, Nur E Tamim Srot for Joint GS (Men), and Faria Zaman Niki for Joint GS (Women). The VP candidate from this panel, Amartya Roy Jon, had his candidacy canceled by the court.
The Chhatra Union-Chhatra Front’s ‘Shongshoptok Parshad’ panel includes Jahidul Islam Imon for GS and Sohagi Samia Jannatul Ferdous for Joint GS (Women).
