A legal notice has been served on Jahangirnagar University authorities and the election commission overseeing the JU Central Students’ Union polls, seeking the reinstatement of Amartya Ray John’s vice-president candidature.
Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain sent the notice on behalf of Amartya Ray John on Sunday, arguing that the decision to revoke the candidacy violated constitutional rights and principles of justice.
Amartya, a 2017–18 archaeology student contesting from the left-leaning Sompritir Oikya panel, had been campaigning for the September 11 JUCSU elections until Saturday, when the commission canceled his nomination.
The legal notice argued that the cancellation of Amartya’s nomination was ‘illegal, arbitrary, and unconstitutional’.
The notice cited Articles 27, 31, 38, and 39 of the Bangladesh Constitution, which guarantee equality before law, protection of lawful rights, and freedom of association and expression.
It warned that if Amartya was not allowed to participate in the polls, he would seek redress before the High Court under Article 102 of the Constitution.
Chief election commissioner Professor Md Moniruzzaman said that they were yet to receive any legal notice.
‘If it is submitted, we will consult with our legal adviser before deciding the next course of action’, he said.
On Saturday, the election commission said that Amartya’s candidacy and voter enrolment were annulled under Articles 4 and 8 of the JUCSU constitution, which bar irregular students from contesting in elections.
‘According to the JUCSU constitution, irregular students cannot be voters or candidates,’ election commission member-secretary and university proctor AKM Rashidul Alam told reporters.
Amartya, who has faced disciplinary actions in the past for political activism, was suspended in 2024 after he and another student leader were accused of defacing a portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with anti-rape graffiti.
Though the High Court later permitted him to sit for theoretical exams, he failed to complete his degree and was deemed an ‘irregular’ student by the university syndicate.
Sampritir Oikya, a coalition of eight leftist student groups, denounced the cancellation as an attempt to derail the JUCSU polls.
‘Scrapping a candidacy after publishing the final list of candidates is nothing but a fraud’, general secretary candidate Sharan Ehsan told a press conference late Saturday.
The panel, naming JU pro-vice-chancellor for administrative affairs Sohel Ahmed, election commissioner Lutful Elahi, and rival VP candidate Abdur Rashid Jitu, also alleged a conflict of interest as they had supported the demonstration of the now-banned BCL demanding Amartya’s suspension.
‘This is a planned conspiracy against me. We will challenge the administration’s decision to cancel my candidacy through legal means’, Amartya told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·.
The JUCSU elections, scheduled for September 11, will be the first in more than three decades.
