The Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel, Sammilita Shikkharthi Jote, has bagged 20 out of the 23 posts, including vice-president and assistant general secretary, in the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union elections.
The panel backed by the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, also won most of the posts in hall unions, and Senate student representative elections.
The voting began at 9:00am at 17 polling centres, set up at seven academic and two administrative buildings, and ended at 4:00pm on October 16 amid allegations of violating electoral code of conduct by candidates and their supporters.
A total of 20,187 out of the 28,909 voters cast their votes in the elections with a voter turnout of 69.83 per cent.
Chief election commissioner professor F Nazrul Islam announced the results at about 8:45am on Friday at Kazi Nazrul Islami auditorium following the counting.
From the Shibir-backed Sammilita Shikkharthi Jote panel, vice-president candidate Mostakur Rahman Jahid, also the president of Shibir’s RU unit, secured 12,687 votes and assistant general secretary candidate SM Salman Sabbir, also the president of RU unit Socchar Student Network, polled 6,971 votes.
Their nearest contestants from Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal-backed Oikyaboddho Notun Projonmo panel’s vice-president candidate Sheikh Nur Uddin Abir and assistant general secretary candidate Jahin Biswas Esha bagged 3,397 and 5941 votes respectively.
For the post of general secretary, former Students Against Discrimination coordinator Salahuddin Ammar bagged 11,537 votes from the Adhipatyabirodhi Oikya panel while his nearest candidates Shibir’s Fazle Rabbi Md Fahim Reza got 5,729 votes, and JCD’s Nafiul Islam Jibon got 1,328 votes.
From the JCD-backed Oikyaboddho Notun Projonmo panel, Nargis Khatun, a player of the country’s national women football team, won the post of sports and games affairs secretary with 7,785 votes, while independent candidate Tofayel Ahmed Tofa secured the post of science and technology affairs secretary with 6,780 votes.
The other winners from the Shibir-backed Sammilita Shikkharthi Jote panel are assistant sports and games affairs secretary Abu Sayed Muhammad Nun, cultural affairs secretary Jaid Hasan Joha, assistant cultural affairs secretary Rakibul Islam, women affairs secretary Syeda Hafsha, assistant women affairs secretary Samia Jahan, information and research affairs secretary BM Nazmus Sakib, assistant information and research affairs secretary Sifat Abu Saleh, media and publication secretary Mujahidul Islam, assistant media and publication secretary Asadullah, assistant science and technology affairs secretary Mujahidul Islam Saim, debate and literary affairs secretary Imran Mia Laskar, assistant debate and literary affairs secretary Nayon Hossain, environment and social welfare secretary Abdullah Al Masud, assistant environment and social welfare secretary Masuma Israt Mumu, and executive members Dip Mahbub, Imziaul Haque Kamali, Sujan Chandra, ABM Khaled and Tamanna Akter.
In the Senate student representative election, Mostakur Rahman Jahid, Fahim Reza, and SM Salman Sabbir were elected from the Shibir-backed Sammilita Shikkharthi Jote panel while Salahuddin Ammar and Akil Bin Taleb were elected from Adhipatyabirodhi Oikya panel.
Besides, Shibir-backed candidates in the 17 hall unions’ elections secured all the key positions, including vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary posts.
According to data, in the male student halls, the voter participation ranged between 69.18 per cent and 77.78 per cent while in the female student halls, the voter participation ranged between 59.60 and 67.11 per cent.
A total of 247 candidates contested the 23 RUCSU posts while another 597 candidates vied in 17 residential hall union elections, with 58 candidates competing for five senate representative positions.
Besides the independent candidates, nine panels backed by different political student organisations contested the elections.
The last RUCSU elections were held in 1990, when Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, now the senior joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was elected the vice-president and Ruhul Quddus Babu the general secretary.
At a press conference on Friday, newly elected RUCSU vice-president, general secretary, and assistant general secretary vowed to work in line with the students’ mandate.
In an immediate reaction on his Facebook account, RU vice-chancellor professor Saleh Hasan Naqib urged the newly elected leaders to work for all, regardless of party affiliation.
