A number of candidates in the recently held elections to the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union and hall unions on Friday said that controversies over the elections were yet to be settled as the university authorities failed to give clear explanations regarding the allegations of anomalies in the polls.
They told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they were not satisfied with the explanation made by the university vice-chancellor, Niaz Ahmed Khan, on the issue on September 28, three days after a private television channel report revealed that ballot papers had been printed at an unprotected press at Gausul Azam Market at Nilkhet, adjacent to the DU campus, intensifying the controversies.
Admitting the allegation over the ballot paper printing at an unprotected place, the VC claimed, ‘The place of printing the ballot papers or the number of ballots in no way affects the election fairness.’
Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal panel’s vice-president candidate Md Abidul Islam Khan said, ‘DUCSU issues have not settled yet. We have rejected the VC’s explanation. His comments have disappointed us.’
Abidul said that the panel would inform the general students its position on the VC’s comments immediately after the university reopened following the holidays on the occasion of Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindus in the country.
Referring to the allegation of printing ballot papers at Nilkhet, Abidul said, ‘Our allegation was not false. It was true. You [the VC] will not play the role of a guardian when you make negative comments to hide your failure.’
Left student organisations-led Aparajeyo 71 - Adammya 24 panel’s VP candidate Md Nayem Hasan stated that the university authorities had failed to maintain transparency in holding the elections and even in clarifying the allegations raised during and after the elections.
‘When we raised the allegation that the ballot papers were printed at Nilkhet, the authorities immediately denied it. They took it in consideration only after widespread criticism following a media report,’ said Nayem.
‘We demanded an independent body to investigate the issue, but the university authorities did not do that. They internally investigated the matter and came up with a conclusion. It cannot be the way of ensuring fairness for the investigation,’ said Nayem.
Leftist organisations and Meghmallar Bosu-led panel Pratirodh Parshad’s assistant general secretary candidate Md Jabir Ahmad Jubel termed the VC’s comments on the allegations ‘irresponsible’ statements.
‘With his [the VC’s] statement, the raised questions regarding the DUCSU elections are not resolved,’ he said, reasserting his demand that the authorities must publish the list of the voters who casted their votes.
Independent candidate’s panel Satantra Shikkharthi Oikya’s VP candidate Umama Fatema alleged that the university authorities did not address the candidates’ concerns and allegations properly.
‘We expected a beginning of a democratic culture through the DUCSU elections after the July uprising. But it did not happen as they [DU authorities] could not rise above bias,’ she said.
Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad-led DUCSU for Change panel’s VP candidate Md Bin Yamin Mollah echoed Umama’s views regarding the university authorities’ failure to establish democratic culture.
He alleged that the ballot paper printing protocol was violated by printing those in an unprotected way at Nilkhet.
‘It is unfortunate that the university authorities could not come up with trustworthy explanations,’ said Bin Yamin, adding that such a move would raise questions against the university authorities’ accountability in the future.
Umama and Bin Yamin also demanded that the university authorities form an independent body to investigate the candidates’ allegations in a proper way.
Islami Chhatra Andolan Bangladesh-led Sachetan Shikkharthi Sangsad panel’s VP candidate Md Iyasin Arafat alleged that there were anomalies not only in ballot printing, the university authorities were also biased towards the Shibir-backed panel and their panel raised the allegation on the election day.
‘Our expectations in much awaited DUCSU elections were not met. Despite several flaws, such as vote rigging, bias and ballot printing at an unprotected place, we have accepted the elections with the hope that such flaws would not be occurred in the next elections,’ said Iyasin. Â
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel won 23 of the 28 posts, including the vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary posts in the DUCSU elections held on September 9.
The elections were marked by allegations of irregularities, including rigging and violations of the electoral code of conduct.
MRM Engineering and Anza Corporation reportedly printed about 86,000 and 1,53,000 ballot papers respectively at unprotected presses for the DUCSU polls.
On September 28, DU VC at a press conference, following widespread criticism, admitted that an associate vendor used 22 reams of paper to print 88,000 ballot papers at Nilkhet.
