The commission for elections to the Rajshahi University Central Students鈥� Union and hall unions on Tuesday extended the deadline for distributing nomination papers by five days and announced that the date of the elections would also be deferred.
Chief election commissioner professor F Nazrul Islam made the announcement at an emergency press briefing at the RUCSU treasurer鈥檚 office in the afternoon.
He said that the commission, in its emergency meeting, had taken three major decisions, including relocating polling centres from residential halls to academic buildings, preparing a photo-based voter list, and extending the deadline for distributing nomination papers until August 31.
Professor Nazrul said that the new election date would be announced on Wednesday.
He said that the elections, earlier scheduled for September 15, would be deferred.
He said that demands for changing the chief election commissioner, relocating polling centres, ensuring security, and conducting dope tests of candidates had disrupted the electoral timetable.
The commission had announced the RUCSU election schedule on July 28, under which nomination forms were to be distributed until August 26.
Meanwhile, a section of students, including leaders of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, left-leaning student organisations, and former coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination, brought out a procession on the campus protesting against the delay in holding the elections.
They demanded the RUCSU elections on the date scheduled earlier.
After the procession, Fahim Reza, a former RU coordinator of the Student Against Discrimination and a candidate for the post of RUCSU general secretary, alleged that the university authorities extended the deadline only to benefit a particular student organisation.
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, which had earlier applied to the commission for delaying the elections, did not collect any nomination forms for the RUCSU and hall union polls until Tuesday.
Shah Poran, a mass communication and journalism student and a candidate for the post of RUCSU assistant general secretary, alleged that the authorities only consulted with one or two major political organisations, which, he said, proved their bias.
Islami Chhatra Shibir鈥檚 RU unit general secretary Mujahid Faisal threatened that they would launch a joint movement with other student organisations if the RUCSU elections were not held on the earlier scheduled date.
