Candidates for the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union and hall union elections spent a busy day in distributing leaflets, exchanging greetings with students and presenting their pledges on the fourth day of their campaign on Friday.
Several candidates, however, complained that a level playing field was absent in the election.
Some also demanded an increase in polling centres to ensure that students could cast their votes without hindrance.
Multiple candidates alleged the university administration of bias.
In the afternoon, Shaikh Tanvir Baree Hamim, general secretary candidate from the Chhatra Dal-backed panel, told reporters while campaigning at Shahidullah Hall that the electoral field had turned into uneven ground.
‘We are witnessing frequent violation of the code of conduct by various panels,’ he said.
Hamim criticised the decision to deploy the army, saying that it had triggered fear among students.
‘There is no need to deploy the army. There’s no warlike situation that requires such a step,’ he remarked.
Meghmallar Basu, general secretary candidate of the Protirodh Parshad panel, said, ‘The positive element of the election is the voters themselves, while the negative element is the administration,’
‘If we are convinced that this is a scam, if low turnout is deliberately engineered to ensure victory for certain groups, we will not remain in this election,’ he said.
‘But we want to keep trying until the end,’ he stated.
Independent Students’ Unity panel vice-president candidate Umama Fatema alleged that digital mobile journalism was undermining the electoral environment.
In a Facebook post on Thursday night, she wrote, digital mobile journalism was destroying the atmosphere of the DUCSU election.
Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir-backed panel’s vice-president candidate Sadik Kayem began his campaign at around 2:00pm on the day.
He told journalists they believed the commission nurtured the ideology of a particular party and provided facilities to its student wing.
Bin Yamin Molla of the ‘DUCSU for Change’ panel warned of boycotting the polls, also accusing the administration of partisanship.
Speaking to reporters in front of Madhur Canteen, he said that all kinds of influence and favouritism spread all over the university.
‘This DUCSU must be the one that frees it from such control,’ he stated.
The DUCSU elections are scheduled for September 9.
The last student union elections at the university were held on March 11, 2019 after a 28-year gap.
