Students of Dhaka University began casting their votes in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) and hall union elections on Tuesday morning.
The balloting started at 8am and will continue until 4pm.
A total of 39,775 students are registered as voters in this election. They will cast their votes to elect representatives from among 471 candidates contesting 28 Ducsu posts, including 62 women.
To ensure smooth elections, the university has set up 810 polling booths across eight centres.
The university administration and the Ducsu Election Commission have taken extensive measures to ensure security, deploying law enforcement agencies, the proctorial team, and observation teams across the campus.
Checkposts have been installed at all entrances of Dhaka University, where law enforcement personnel remain stationed.
A police control room has also been set up in the TSC area.
Police officers, along with members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), are positioned at every entry point to facilitate the smooth movement of students.
Meanwhile, from 7am, volunteers assigned to various centres were seen taking up their duties.
VP, GS posts draw record candidates, keen attention
Although Ducsu has 28 posts, voters and candidates are most focused on the two top positions: vice-president (VP) and general secretary (GS). A record 45 candidates, including five women, are contesting for VP, and 19 candidates are running for GS.
Voters indicated that VP candidates Abidul Islam Khan (backed by BNP’s student wing), Sadik Kayem (backed by Jamaat’s student wing), Abdul Quader (backed by NCP), and independent candidate Umama Fatema are leading the race. Other candidates, including Shamim Hossain and Tasnim Afroz Emi, may also attract significant attention.
For the GS position, voters cited Tanvir Bari Hamim (Chhatra Dal), S M Farhad (Shibir), Abu Baker Majumder (NCP-backed), and Meghmallar Basu (Chhatra Union, partial) as the frontrunners. Independent candidate Ashiqur Rahman has also drawn attention with a unique campaign.
Ballot details
Ducsu ballots span five pages, while hall union ballots will be one page. Voters will mark their choices on Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets.
For the VP position, 45 candidates—including five women—are competing; 19 candidates are vying for GS, 25 for Assistant General Secretary (AGS), and 217 candidates—including 23 women—are competing for 13 member posts.
Election is also being held for 13 posts in each of the 18 hall unions, with a total of 1,035 candidates. Each voter will cast 41 votes in total.
