The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal panel that contested the September 11 Jahangirnagar University Central Students鈥� Union elections on Tuesday alleged widespread irregularities and demanded a fresh vote.
The vice-president candidate from the panel, Sheikh Sadi Hasan, made the allegation and the demand at a press conference at the teachers鈥� lounge of the university cafeteria.
He also presented 12 allegations that he claimed undermined the credibility of the polls.
He alleged that the voter list was not photo-based, the ink used on the fingers of voters during voting was not indelible, ballots were stuffed, excess ballot papers were sent to the polling centres, and a private printing company linked to Jamaat-e-Islami was used for printing the ballot papers.
The panel also alleged that polling officials were not properly briefed on election rules and that agents of opposition panels faced harassment and obstruction.
They alleged that ballot boxes were delivered to polling centers the night before the election day, leaving room for tampering, and that voting was temporarily suspended in some dormitories after reports of fraud.
In one case, the number of votes declared exceeded the number of ballots cast, they alleged.
They also accused hall provosts of bias, citing incidents where candidates and even journalists were barred from entering polling centres.
In some instances, ballot papers reportedly lacked candidates鈥� names, forcing voters to write them by hand.
The panel further alleged that outsiders, including political activists from outside Dhaka, were brought onto campus to intimidate voters.
One candidate from an indigenous community was officially recorded as receiving zero votes in a hall where her supporters said they had cast votes for her.
Sadi said that the panel had formally requested the administration and the chief election commissioner to release CCTV footage and voter lists from all centers, but they had yet to receive them.
鈥榃idespread rigging and mismanagement turned JUCSU elections into a mockery. We demand a full investigation into these irregularities and a re-election,鈥� he said.
Member secretary of JUCSU election commission AKM Rashidul Alam, who is also the university proctor, dismissed the claim of irregularities, terming it a propaganda campaign by a vested group.