Jahangirnagar University unit of Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad on Friday announced a 23-member panel to contest the Jahangirnagar University Central Students鈥� Union election, scheduled for September 11.
The panel, under the banner 鈥楽hiksharthee Oikya Forum鈥�, was unveiled at a press conference at the base of the JU Shaheed Minar by Hazrat Ali, uncle of Shaheed Nafisa Marwa, who was killed in the July mass uprising at Savar in Dhaka.
JU Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad unit convener Arifuzzaman Uzzal will contest for the vice-president post, while the organisation鈥檚 member secretary Abu Touhid Mohammad Siam will run for the general secretary post.
Uzzal was a former president of JU Journalists鈥� Association and JU correspondent of Bangla daily Ittefaq.
Speaking at the announcement, Uzzal said that the panel included students who had long been active in the campus reform movements, carried the spirit of the mass uprising and worked for student rights.
He added that the panel also ensured representation of female and national minority students, with women candidates nominated beyond reserved posts.
Among other nominees, Ziauddin Ayan and Maliha Namla will contest for assistant general secretary, male and female; Farhana Binte Jigar Farina for education and research secretary; and Ring Yong Murong for assistant sports secretary, male.
The posts of sports affairs secretary and drama affairs secretary have been left vacant.
Uzzal explained that the sports secretary post was withheld to honour Mahmudul Hasan Kiran, a JU student and a Bangladesh U-23 national football team player.
The announcement came a day after Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir鈥檚 JU unit declared a 25-member panel under the banner 鈥楥ombined Student Alliance鈥�.
Meanwhile, JU unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Jahir Uddin Babor said that they would announce their panel on August 25.
At least seven panels are expected to contest the polls, including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Islami Chhatra Shibir, Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad, two left-leaning and cultural alliances, Gono-Abhyutthan Raksha Andolan and an independent platform of JU journalists and activists.
The last JUCSU election was held in 1992.