The election commission for the elections to the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union, scheduled for September 11, on Saturday canceled the candidacy of a left-leaning student running for vice president
The commission said in a notice that it also revoked the enrolment of the candidate, Amartya Ray John, a 2017–18 archaeology student, as a voter for the elections.
Amartya was contesting for the post of the vice president from Sampritir Oikya, an alliance of eight left student groups on campus.
‘Amartya Ray John was disqualified from the elections as per sections 4 and 8 of the JUCSU constitution,’ read the notice signed by chief election commissioner Professor Md Moniruzzaman.
Section 4 allows undergraduate students studying for not more than six years and postgraduate students studying for not more than two years to be voters or candidates for JUCSU polls.
Section 8 bars candidates from running for more than one post in the 25-member body.
Election commission member-secretary and university proctor Professor AKM Rashidul Alam said that the university syndicate informed the commission that Amartya was not a regular student.
‘According to the JUCSU constitution, irregular students cannot be voters or candidates,’ he said.
Asked why the decision came after the list of final candidates was published, he replied that the syndicate conveyed its decision only on Saturday.
A syndicate member, however, said that the body made the decision on September 5 after reviewing Amartya’s records.
He failed in final-year exam twice and was yet to complete graduation
Although the academic council recommended a special exam under special consideration, such cases are deemed ‘irregular’.
Amartya’s panel denounced the cancellation as an attempt to derail the polls.
At a press conference Saturday evening, general secretary candidate Sharan Ehsan said, ‘Scrapping a candidacy after publishing the final list of candidates is nothing but a fraud.’
Amartya has faced disciplinary action before. On February 22, 2024, the university suspended him and another student leader for one year after they overlapped a portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with anti-rape graffiti.
A case was filed by a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader. In March, the High Court allowed them to sit for only theoretical exams.
Amartya later failed a laboratory course as he was barred from taking in-course exams.
The syndicate cited the failure in its latest decision and subsequently referred for a ‘special examination’.
‘This is a planned conspiracy against me,’ Amartya said.
The Sampritir Oikya has sought the university chancellor’s intervention and vowed legal action if the decision was not overturned.
The panel also alleged a conflict of interest, naming JU pro-vice-chancellor for administrative affairs Sohel Ahmed, election commissioner Lutful Elahi, and rival VP candidate Abdur Rashid Jitu, as they had supported demonstration of the now-banned BCL, demanding Amartya’s suspension.
