Candidates from the Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal-backed panel in Dhaka University student union elections alleged that a large number of ballot papers were found unsecured at a printing press near the campus just two days before voting, with no monitoring from the university administration.
At a press conference at Madhur Canteen on Monday, the panel candidates said that the ballot papers were found in Nilkhet鈥檚 Gausul Azam Market on September 7.
The allegation came as part of 11 allegations they raised at the press conference regarding the Dhaka University Central Student Union elections.
The allegations also included administrative bias; lack of basic understanding of electoral code of conduct among most polling officers; supply of ballot papers marked in favour of a certain panel; absence of serial numbers on ballot papers; and irregularities in vote counting.
Panel general secretary candidate Shaikh Tanvir Baree Hamim said that since July uprising a vested quarter had been trying to portray Chhatra Dal-backed students negatively to gain political advantage.
After the announcement of the election schedule, they found widespread irregularities and lodged complaints as per rules, but the administration miserably failed to address those issues, he said.聽
Panel vice-president candidate Abidul Islam Khan said that until the administration clarified its stance on ensuring fairness, their panel would not acknowledge it as a legitimate election.
He also accused the authorities of repeatedly ignoring their appeals for solutions to irregularities and deliberately delaying action.
Such action from the administration would leave the 2025 DUCSU elections to be regarded as historically controversial, he further said.
In the polls held on September 9, Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Oikya Baddha Shikkharthi Jot won 23 out of 28 posts, including those of vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary, while none from the JCD-backed panel could secure a post.
