In Tuesday’s Dhaka University Central Students’ Union and hall union elections, 74.75 per cent, not 78.33 per cent, of votes were cast, authorities said on Thursday.
DUCSU chief returning officer professor Mohammad Zashim Uddin told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Thursday afternoon that 29,821 out of 39,874 registered voters cast their votes at the eight polling centres set up for the polls.
At about 6:42pm on the election day, showing a printed document that contained vote casting percentages for 18 halls, Zashim had said that 78.33 per cent of the votes were cast in the DUCSU elections which were held from 8:00am to 4:00pm on Tuesday without any interruption.
Regarding the percentage issue, Zashim on Thursday said that it was a miscommunication as the document I had showed that day contained the vote cast percentage for a certain period.
Asked about the number of total votes cast and the rejected votes in the DUCSU elections, Zashim said that the number of rejected votes could not be said at that moment as the election authorities were working to sort out the result documents.
A document shared by the chief returning officer of DUCSU and hall elections-2025 on Thursday shows that 3,678 out of 5,668 votes were cast at the Teacher-Student Centre polling centre, 2,947 out of 4,443 votes were cast at the Geology Department polling centre, 4,049 out of 4,831 votes were cast at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban polling centre, 4,044 out of 4,873 votes were cast at the Physical Education Centre polling centre, 2,607 out of 4,096 votes were cast at the University Laboratory School and College polling centre, 3,224 out of 4,756 votes were cast at the Dhaka University Club polling centre, 4,135 out of 5,077 votes were cast at the Curzon Hall polling centre and 5,140 out of 6,155 votes were cast at the Udayan School and College polling centre.
According to the document, there were 39,899 voters under the centres, although there were 39,874 registered voters in the DUCSU elections.
The document, however, put the total number of voters at 39,874 while calculating the percentage.
In the DUCSU polls, candidates backed by the Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami, won 23 among 28 posts, including the key positions of vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary.
A total of 470 candidates, independently and from 12 panels, vied for the 28 DUCSU posts.
Elections to the DUCSU and university halls were held in a largely peaceful environment despite allegations of ballot tampering and violations of the code of conduct by candidates and their supporters after a six-year gap.
A total of 1,035 candidates contested the elections of 18 hall unions, each having 13 posts.
The previous DUCSU and hall elections were held on March 11, 2019, after a 28-year gap.
