Following the announcement of the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (Jucsu) election results, allegations of miscounting and irregularities have surfaced in several halls, raising questions about the fairness of the polls.
At Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall, Ashraful Islam was initially declared the winner for the post of dining and canteen secretary. However, the hall provost, Professor Abdus Satter, later informed him over the phone that he had actually secured only 92 votes and was not elected.
The earlier official announcement had shown Ashraful with 132 votes, while his closest rivals—Rahman Rifat (129), Md Yusuf (125), and Md Abu Sayem (123)—together pushed the total to 509 votes, despite only 469 ballots being cast in the hall.
Ashraful expressed his frustration, saying, “According to the Election Commission’s announcement, I was the winner. Later, they said there was a miscount. It is very disappointing to see such mistakes even after so much time.”
Provost Satter admitted the error, explaining, “There was a misreading of tally marks. The number four was mistaken for eight during manual counting. That is why this mistake occurred.”
A similar controversy arose in Maulana Bhashani Hall, where candidate Nihla Aung Marma from the Sompritir Oikko panel received zero votes for the position of executive member. Voter Relang Khumi questioned the result, saying, “I myself voted for her, yet she got nothing. Many from our indigenous community also supported her. This is unbelievable.”
Discrepancies were also reported in Jahanara Imam Hall, where 242 ballots were cast, but the Election Commission’s official results listed 247 votes. For the assistant general secretary (AGS) post, candidates Lamia Jannat and Sadia Jannat both received 113 votes. The commission declared them joint winners, each to serve six months. However, one of Lamia’s votes was invalidated because the tick mark slightly crossed the designated box.
Lamia said: “Just because the tick mark was slightly outside the box, my vote was cancelled. In other halls, this was not the case. Since the counting was manual, the vote should not have been rejected. This is unfair to me.”
Returning Officer Nasrin Khatun defended the decision, stating, “We were instructed by the commission that if a mark goes outside the designated box, the vote must be canceled. That is why it was invalidated.”
Chief Election Commissioner Professor Moniruzzaman distanced the commission from the controversies, saying, “Any miscount is the responsibility of the respective returning officer. We only announced the results we received. If anyone has objections, they must submit a written complaint to the Jucsu president, that is, the vice-chancellor."
