Dhaka University (DU) authorities will publish today the draft voter list of long-awaited election to the Dhaka University Central Student Union (Ducsu) which was dysfunctional for more than two decades.
Vice-Chancellor of the university professor Akhtaruzzaman will publish the draft voter list at the Abdul Matin Chowdhury digital classroom, said a press release from the university yesterday.
The voter list will be available in the Ducsu website: ducsu.du.ac.bd
Any objection about the voter list will be entertained till November 30. Hard copies of the voter list will be available at all residential halls of the university.
Earlier on September 15, after meeting with the student organizations DU VC Akhtaruzzaman at a briefing said that the Ducsu polls might be held by March 2019 and expressed hope that draft electoral roll for the polls would be prepared by October 2018.
On September 12, fifteen former DU students filed a contempt petition against the vice-chancellor, proctor AKM Golam Rabbani and treasurer Kamal Uddin for violating a High Court order asking them to hold the Ducsu polls.
When was the last Ducsu election held?
The Ducsu elections were held last in 1990, the same year military dictator HM Ershad was ousted.
On January 17, the High Court bench of Justices Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Md Ataur Rahman Khan asked the DU authorities to take steps to hold theDucsu polls at a "suitable time, preferably within six months."
The bench had observed that the legitimate expectations of the DU students to cast their vote had been violated by not holding Ducsu elections for over 28 years since 1990. According to the DU Order 1973, the Ducsu election has to be held every year.
The court also said the DU senate could not be formed without five elected representatives of the Ducsu.
The DU senate has been formed without Duscu representatives for too long, it added.
Ducsu was formed in 1924 after the establishment of the Dhaka University in 1921, and its first vice-president was nominated in the 1924-25 academic session. Since then, the vice-president used to be nominated until 1953 when the first election was held.
The latest Ducsu election was held in 1990. It was the sixth election after independence. Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal-backed Aman-Khokon (Amanullah Aman and Khairul Kabir Khokan) panel won the election and remained the leaders of the students’ body until its dissolution.
