Will Zitu and Mazhar Lead JUCSU as New Torchbearers?

The vote counting for the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) election remains incomplete. Despite nearly 42 hours passing since the conclusion of voting, the Election Commission has yet to officially announce the results. However, the counting for the hall elections and 19 centers of the central union has already been finalized. According to the latest results from these 19 halls, independent candidate Abdur Rasid Zitu is leading for the Vice-President (VP) post, while Md. Mazharul Islam, nominated by the Chhatra Shibir panel, is ahead for the General Secretary (GS) post. Could Zitu and Mazhar emerge as the new torchbearers of JUCSU?

Abdur Rasid Zitu is currently the convener of the ‘Gonoabbyutthan Raksha Andolan’ platform at Jahangirnagar University. Prior to the quota reform movement, he was involved in Chhatra League politics, but was one of the first victims of the attack by Chhatra League members during the movement. Following the detention of Arif Sohel, Zitu led the anti-discrimination movement at Jahangirnagar as its forefront figure until 5 August. He later resigned as coordinator of the anti-discrimination movement and founded the ‘Gonoabbyutthan Raksha Andolan’ platform, through which he has been actively leading various campus initiatives.

On the other hand, Md. Mazharul Islam serves as the office and publicity secretary of the university’s Chhatra Shibir branch. He is a student of the English Department from the 48th batch, hailing from Noakhali district. He completed his SSC from Noakhali Zilla School and his HSC from Government Science College, Dhaka.

In this year’s JUCSU election, approximately 68 percent of the 11,759 registered voters cast their ballots. A total of 177 candidates contested for 25 posts in the central union, including 9 for the Vice-President (VP) post, 8 for the General Secretary (GS) post, and 16 for the Assistant General Secretary (AGS) post. The number of female candidates was 6.

Eight full and partial panels participated in the election. However, allegations of irregularities prompted five panels, including one supported by Chhatra Dal, to boycott the election after voting began. The boycotting panels included the Progressive Students’ Unity, Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Chhatra Front’s ‘Sangshaptak Parishad,’ and the independent candidates’ ‘Angikar Parishad.’ Additionally, a splinter group of Chhatra Front and several independent candidates also announced their boycott of the voting process.

A total of 11,897 students from the university’s 21 residential halls were eligible to exercise their voting rights, comprising 6,115 male and 5,728 female students. To facilitate voting, 224 booths were set up across 21 polling centers.

The voter breakdown for male residential halls is as follows:

• Al Beruni Hall: 210 voters
• A F M Kamaluddin Hall: 333 voters
• Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall: 464 voters
• Shahid Salam-Barkat Hall: 298 voters
• Mawlana Bhashani Hall: 514 voters
• Shahid Rafiq-Jabbar Hall: 650 voters
• Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall: 350 voters
• Hall No. 21: 735 voters
• Jatiya Kabi Nazrul Hall: 992 voters
• Tajuddin Ahmad Hall: 947 voters