Voting for the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (Rucsu), hall unions, and Senate student representative elections concluded on Thursday at 4pm, with counting beginning shortly thereafter.
Leaders and activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir have exchanged counter-allegations over the election, though no untoward incidents have been reported.
Law enforcement and volunteer groups—including police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), BNCC, Rover Scouts, community police, and Rangers—were deployed across polling centres and key points on campus to maintain security and order.
According to the Rucsu Election Commission, all ballot papers will be brought to the Kazi Nazrul Islam Auditorium for counting. Ballots from different boxes will be sorted and bundled in groups of 100 before being scanned through the OMR machine. A panel of experts will oversee the digital counting process, which will be conducted in three phases. Results for each hall will be finalised sequentially, and the entire process is expected to take 12 to 15 hours.
This year, 305 candidates are contesting 23 Rucsu positions, while 58 candidates are vying for five student representative seats in the Senate. Additionally, 555 candidates are competing for 255 positions across 17 hall unions, bringing the total to 860 candidates.
There are 28,901 registered voters, for whom an equal number of ballot papers have been printed. Of these, 39.1% are women and 60.9% are men.
The voting process is being conducted by university teachers and officials, with 212 teachers on duty—17 serving as presiding officers at 17 polling centres, and the remainder as assistant presiding officers. In addition, 91 officials are serving as polling officers, while a special expert committee supervises the result compilation.
