Amartya Ray John, a vice-president aspirant in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union election, filed a writ petition with the High Court on Monday, seeking reinstatement of his candidacy and inclusion of his name in the voter list.
The writ further sought a ruling as to why the JUCSU Election Commission’s decision to cancel his candidacy and withdraw his name from the voter list should not be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
Amartya’s name had initially appeared on the final candidate list, and he was actively campaigning as a vice-president candidate from the left-leaning Sampritir Oikya panel.
After eight days of campaign, on September 6, the Election Commission cancelled his candidature and excluded his name from the voter list, citing certain sections of the JUCSU constitution after the university syndicate had deemed him an ‘irregular student’.
The university authorities, in an emergency notice signed by the acting director of the public relations office on Monday, clarified the administrative decision against the left student leader.
It said that Amartya, who enrolled in the archaeology department in the 2017–18 academic session under the 47th batch, first sat for his final-year honours examinations in 2021 but failed in two courses.
He attempted improvement examinations in 2022, failing both courses again, and again in May 2025, when he passed one course but failed in another.
Under the university’s Examination Ordinance 2003, students admitted before 2019–20 session are allowed only one retake attempt, making his later exams ‘irregular’.
Amartya’s lawyer Manzur Al Matin, in a press briefing on Monday, slammed the JU notice disclosing Amartya’s academic record publicly as a violation of personal secrecy.
Amartya and his panel termed the disqualification politically motivated.
On Sunday, his lawyer Barrister Sara Hossain issued a legal notice demanding reinstatement, warning of court action if ignored.
On Monday, the university authorities said that the voting in the JUCSU elections would be conducted using Optical Mark Recognition ballot papers.
Chief election commissioner professor Md Moniruzzaman said that a voter would have to cast votes for up to 40 candidates, including 25 in central and 15 in hall union positions.
‘Considering the time-consuming process, and after consulting stakeholders, we decided to introduce the OMR ballot system to ensure accuracy and efficiency,’ he told reporters.
He said that the forms would be machine-readable and the results would be generated automatically through the system.
A total of 179 candidates are running for the 25 positions in the central union, including 10 for vice president and nine for general secretary posts.
The university’s 21 residential halls together have 315 positions, 15 in each.
Of them, 102 candidates face no rivals and will be officially declared elected, while no nominations were filed for 63 seats, leaving only 150 positions to be contested on the election day.
Formal campaigning for the polls began on August 29 and will end on September 9.
A total of 11,919 voters, including 6,102 males and 5,817 females, are expected to exercise their voting rights in the elections.
The JUCSU polls, set for 11 September, will be the first in more than three decades.
