Claiming that around 43,000 voters will not be able to cast their votes within just six hours, a number of candidates in the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) and hall union elections have demanded an extension to the voting time.
Currently, Students will exercise their franchise in the polls from 8am to 2pm on March 11.
"It's not possible for 43,000 voters to cast their votes within six hours. That's why we have urged the authorities to extend the voting hours," said ARM Asifur Rahman, an independent general secretary aspirant at the Ducsu polls, while talking to journalists at DU’s Madhur Canteen on Thursday.
He also claimed the university administration is hatching a plot to stage a one-sided election.
"From the beginning, the university administration is working in favour of a particular student wing, without paying any heed to logical demands," he alleged.
Chhatra Federation-backed central general secretary candidate Umme Habiba Benajir echoed Asif’s comments on the voting time extension, saying each voter has to cast 38 votes in the Ducsu and hall union polls, which is not possible in only six hours.
Meanwhile, “Swadikar Shatantra Parishad,” an independent panel, proposed the set up of a total 357 polling booths at dormitories, so that students could cast their votes within the timeframe.
