Tension gripped the Rajshahi University campus on Sunday as different student groups, including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal clashed and staged protests against each other over the inclusion of first-year students in the student union elections.
Sunday was the last day for collecting nomination papers for the elections, scheduled for September 15 after a long 35-year break.
Witnesses said that leaders and activists of JCD, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, took position in front of the RUCSU election commission office at about 9:30am, demanding inclusion of first-year students in the voter list.
As the commission began distributing nomination papers, the JCD men led by university unit president Sultan Ahmed Rahi stormed into the office and drove out the commission members.
They then padlocked the office鈥檚 main entrance and staged a sit-in there, while members of the RU unit University Teachers鈥� Association of Bangladesh also joined them in solidarity.
Around 11:00am, the JCD activists clashed with Salahuddin Ammar, a former RU coordinator of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, and his followers when they came to collect nomination papers.
As news spread of the JCD blockade, several hundred students, including many aspiring polls candidates, gathered in front of the commission office at about 1:00pm and after a clash broke the lock of the commission office.
At around 2:00pm, the commission resumed distributing nomination forms, when leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, arrived with a procession and collected forms.
RU unit Shibir president Mostakur Rahman Zahid said that they also wanted the inclusion of first-year students after discussions.
鈥樷�hhatra Dal is trying to foil the election by forcibly obstructing the nomination process, which general students have resisted,鈥� he said.
Salahuddin Ammar alleged that JCD was trying to foil the RUCSU polls, knowing that the inclusion of the freshers would delay the elections by at least two more months.
Fuad Ratul, convener of the RU unit of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front accused the university administration of leaving rival student groups to confront each other.
鈥楾his will only shrink general students鈥� participation and turn RUCSU elections to a turf war,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, at a press conference on the campus about 5:30pm, JCD university unit president Rahi announced a three-point demand鈥攊nclusion of freshers in the voter list, inclusion of JCD leaders whose studentship had expired, and justice for the attack on their activists.
In the evening, the university election commission called a meeting with the student organisations and candidates at the senate building to resolve the issue.
However, left-leaning student leaders and JCD leaders walked out of the meeting citing an 鈥榰nfavourable environment鈥�.
Rahi also warned that JCD would not join any election under the present commission unless their demands were met.
RUCSU chief election commissioner Professor F Nazrul Islam could not be reached over phone for comments.
