Jahangirnagar University campus simmered with tension on Friday as results of the JU Central Students’ Union elections remained unpublished more than a day after the voting, triggering anger among candidates and voters.
Voting was held on Wednesday with Optical Mark Recognition ballots at 224 booths, with results expected that night.
Of the 11,919 eligible voters, 7,934 students cast ballots across the 21 residential halls -- a nearly 67 per cent turnout.
In an emergency notice issued on Friday around 10:00pm, JU proctor AKM Rashidul Alam, also member secretary of the JUCSU election commission, said vote counting for both JUCSU and the hall unions was continuing ‘without interruption’.
He said that results for 19 of the 21 hall unions had already been finalised, with the remaining two still under process.
Rashidul Alam acknowledged that Ferdous’s death slowed the counting, as funeral rites delayed proceedings, but pledged that JUCSU results would be declared once the process was complete by Friday night.
The election commission had initially planned to count votes by OMR machines, but halfway through the polling switched to manual counting after opposition groups alleged that ballot papers and machines had been supplied by a company linked to the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-backed Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal panel boycotted the polls, claiming irregularities and bias.
Manual counting dragged into Friday, with the central union votes still pending.
The delay escalated anger after Jannatul Ferdous, a lecturer at the fine arts department serving as a polling officer, died of a reported cardiac arrest on Thursday morning while on duty at the Senate Hall.
Faculties and students blamed the administration’s decision to scrap OMR counting for creating ‘inhuman pressure’ on polling staff.
‘If counting had been done with machines, perhaps we would not have lost her’, said Professor Sultana Akter, warden of Nawab Foyzunnesa Hall. ‘We worked under unbearable pressure for three days without rest.’
Student panels, including those backed by Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad, Gano Abhyuthan Rakkha Andolon, and Islami Chhatra Shibir, condemned the commission’s decision to abandon OMR counting, calling it politically motivated.
Chief Election Commissioner Md Moniruzzaman denied allegations of bias, saying multiple companies were evaluated for the ballot supply.
He said that the commission opted for manual counting ‘to avoid controversy’ but pledged results would be announced ‘as soon as possible’.
JUCSU election commission faced a fresh turmoil on Friday after election commissioner Professor Mafruhi Satter resigned, saying the entire process had been compromised.
Professor Satter, dean of JU biological sciences faculty and widely seen as aligned with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party camp, announced his resignation at a press briefing on campus around 8:45pm on Friday.
‘The way this whole process has been conducted, the flaws that should have been addressed were ignored by the commission,’ Satter said.
‘I repeatedly urged the commission to halt counting and investigate the allegations before moving forward, but I failed.’
He said the pressure he faced was not to resign, but rather to remain in his position despite growing controversy.
Candidates and supporters gathered in front of the election commission office, demanding the immediate publication of central union results and accusing the administration of working in the interest of a vested group.
Arif Ullah Adeeb, a vice-president candidate backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir, directly blamed the move.
‘A political group pressured the commission to cancel the OMR counting to serve its own purpose. We strongly condemn it,’ he added.
Abdur Rashid Zitu, a VP candidate from Swatantra Shikkharthi Sommilon, termed the delay in result publication as an effort to foil the election.
‘Such conspiracy will be firmly prevented‘, he added.
JU vice-chancellor Professor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan later met with election officials to discuss resuming the OMR counting, but the commission pressed ahead with manual tabulation into the night.
CEC Md Moniruzzaman said that more personnel were deployed to complete the counting early.
The pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party teachers’ platform at JU on Friday in a statement condemned what they described as a smear campaign and widespread irregularities in the JUCSU election.
In a statement, the ‘Nationalist Teachers’ Forum’ accused several election commission members and hall provosts aligned with a rival political camp of shielding misconduct that led the BNP-backed student group, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, to boycott the polls.
The forum said that on the night of September 10, false claims were circulated on social media suggesting ballot papers had been distributed prematurely to favour JCD.
In reality, according to the teachers, ballot papers were sent to polling centres the following morning under the supervision of returning officers, while only ballot boxes and materials were moved the night before.
‘The purpose of such fabricated claims was to corner JCD before the election even began’, the forum said, adding that activists of a rival political party amplified the rumors online.
The statement alleged ballot stuffing, harassment of candidates’ agents and journalists at several halls, including Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall, Jahanara Imam Hall, Tazuddin Ahmed Hall and Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall.
It further claimed that at least one hall provost openly solicited votes for a rival panel and that monitors witnessed abandoned ballots and other irregularities.
However, the claim could not be verified independently.
The forum also pointed to the absence of serial numbers on JUCSU ballot papers, lack of photo-attached voter lists, and failure to apply indelible ink in many cases, which they said created scope for voter fraud and disenfranchisement.
Calling the polls a ‘stage-managed exercise to ensure victory for a particular political camp’, the teachers demanded that the allegations be addressed and a fresh election held to restore credibility.