More than 55% of seats in Jahangirnagar University’s (JU) hall union elections will go uncontested or remain vacant.
According to the final list of hall union candidates published on the university’s website, 112 candidates are set to win unopposed, while 64 seats have no contenders.
Each of the university’s 21 residential halls has 15 posts, totalling 315 positions. Of these, 112 will be filled without contest and 64 will remain vacant, leaving no scope for voting.
In the 11 male residential halls, which together hold 165 seats, eight remain without candidates while 49 will be filled uncontested. The 10 female halls show greater apathy: 56 of 150 seats remain vacant, and 63 others will be filled without polling.
Election experts and students fear some halls may not be able to form effective unions due to the shortage of candidates. The 13th female hall, in particular, may fail to function for lack of quorum.
Meanwhile, the Jucsu central election has drawn stronger competition, with 179 students contesting 25 positions. Among them, 10 are vying for vice-president (VP) and nine for general secretary (GS).
Explaining students’ reluctance, Borhan, a 50th batch student of the Department of Comparative Literature and Culture, said, “Many students feel entering Jucsu means getting trapped in ‘group politics’ and facing the risk of retaliation.”
Sharing the female students’ perspective, Sifat Ara Rumki, a 49th batch student of the English Department, said: “Due to security concerns, many female students chose not to contest.”
Proctor and election commission member secretary A K M Rashidul Alam said the administration will issue instructions on handling cases of vacant or incomplete quorums.
“In cases of a shortage of candidates or where quorum is not met, decisions will be taken later as per the vice-chancellor’s directives,” he said.
Election Commission member and acting Dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Professor Mafruhi Sattar, added: “Those running unopposed will be declared winners, while fresh elections will be held later to fill the vacant positions.”
