Doubts Over 16,000 Students Coming to CUCSU Polling Centers

The final voter list for the Chittagong University Central Students’ Union (CUCSU) election has been published. According to it, there will be 27,634 voters in this election. Of these, around 16,000 students live in the city, 22 kilometers away from the campus. There is uncertainty about whether this large number of students will come to cast their votes on polling day.

It is learned that the university has 15 halls. Of these, 10 are for boys and five for girls. The boys' halls have about 4,500 seats, and the girls' halls have around 2,500. Thus, around 7,000 students reside in the halls. Additionally, another 5,000 students live in various cottages and messes nearby. The remaining students stay in Chittagong city.

Many non-resident students feel that going from the city to the university to vote is arduous. A full day is wasted if they go to the campus, and there are also travel expenses and hassles. However, the election commission has stated that they will do everything necessary to bring students to the polling centers. If needed, extra buses will be arranged from the university.

Following DUCSU and JUCSU, the university authorities are paying special attention to security matters in CUCSU. On this issue, the university’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Professor Dr. Kamal Uddin said, “We will coordinate with all law enforcement agencies if necessary. We have already started communication. If required, army personnel and BGB members will be on the ground as striking force. We are doing whatever is needed to make the election transparent and acceptable.”

Chief Election Commissioner Professor Dr. Monir Uddin said, “We are very optimistic about the election. We have seen enthusiasm among students regarding CUCSU. We will conduct the election with 100 percent transparency. At present, no student organization is posing any obstacles to us. We will gift the students a transparent CUCSU election to establish their rights.”

In this election, 348 undergraduate and postgraduate voters and candidates will be eligible. Of these, there are 222 MPhil students and 126 PhD researchers. According to the code of conduct, no candidate can submit or collect nomination papers with more than five supporters. Like the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), students will vote using the OMR method.

According to the schedule, today, Tuesday, is the last day for nomination distribution. Tomorrow, candidates can only submit nomination forms. Later, the preliminary list of candidates will be published on September 21. They can withdraw nomination papers on September 23. The final list will be published on September 25. Voting will be held on October 12 from 9am to 4pm.