A group of Rajshahi University students on Monday staged a sit-in, demanding the announcement of a full schedule for the Rajshahi University Central Students鈥� Union elections soon.
The students under the banner of RU Student Rights Association began the sit-in on Paris Road on the university campus at 10:30am, and they moved to in front of the university main administrative building at 11:45am, blocking the entrance gate.
Addressing the sit-in, students alleged that the university administration had been stalling the RUCSU election process and had repeatedly failed to keep its promises in this regard.
Mehedi Sajib, spokesperson for the RU Student Rights Association, said that they had been staging demonstrations for a long time demanding a functioning student union.
鈥極ne of the core demands of the July mass uprising was making the student unions functional. Yet, even a year later, no schedule for holding the RUCSU elections has been announced,鈥� said Mehedi, a former coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination which spearheaded the mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
He said that the university authorities announced an election road map to hold the long-stalled RUCSU elections in June, and they were scheduled to publish code of electoral conduct on April 13, and draft voter list on April 28.
鈥楤ut the university authorities failed to publish the code of electoral conduct and the draft voter list within the stipulated time frame for their 鈥渜uestionable role鈥� in implementing the road map,鈥� he added.
Another former SAD coordinator Fazle Rabbi Md Fahim Reza said that the university administration had initially promised to hold the RUCSU elections within six months.
鈥楾his is July 21. The university administration is clearly stalling the RUCSU election process,鈥� he said.
The students also announced that they would not leave the administration building鈥檚 main gate until the university authorities announced a complete election schedule for the RUCSU elections, as they were still staging the sit-in till filing this report at 4:45pm.
The RUCSU elections were last held in 1989.
The schedule for the elections to the Dhaka University Central Students鈥� Union is likely to be announced on July 29, with voting expected in the second week of September.
The last elections to the DUCSU were held in March 2019 after a long gap of 28 years.
The tenure of that DUCSU ended in March 2020.
