JnUCSU and Hall Union Election Postponed Amid Student Protests on Campus
Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) and hall union election-2025 has been postponed following the death of BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.
The university authorities took the decision in an emergency syndicate meeting held this Tuesday morning (30 December). Voting was originally scheduled to begin at 9:00 am today.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Md Rezaul Karim confirmed the syndicate’s decision. Speaking to the media after the meeting this morning, he said: “In this time of mourning, we do not want the festivity of an election. Therefore, the JnUCSU and hall union election has been postponed.”
As soon as the news of the postponement spread, students erupted in immediate protests on campus. From early morning, large numbers of students had started gathering to cast their votes, only to be met with the announcement of the delay. The Election Commission is expected to issue a formal notice shortly.
The university administration had taken the initiative to hold the first student union election in two decades since the institution became a university. However, the election has now been postponed before voting could begin. The new schedule will be announced later by the Election Commission.
The entire campus had been placed under tight security in preparation for the election.
The last student union election at the then Jagannath College was held in 1987. After the college was transformed into a university in 2005, this would have been the first student parliament election in 38 years.
According to the commission, voting was to take place in a total of 39 centres with 178 booths. Polling was scheduled to run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Tuesday (30 December). The Election Commission had already started setting up the booths and published the list of centres and booths on Sunday (28 December) afternoon.
Commission sources said 38 centres had been designated for the central union and one for the hall unions. There was to be one voting booth for every 100 students. Votes were to be counted through machines after polling ended.
According to commission data:
- Total voters: 16,445
- Female voters: 8,479
- Male voters: 8,170
- Total candidates (central and hall unions combined): 187
- Total panels: 4 (Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Shibir, Chhatra Shakti, and Socialist Students’ Front)
- Vice-President (VP) candidates: 9
- General Secretary (GS) candidates: 9
- Assistant General Secretary candidates: 8
