Manual vote counting begins in JUCSU poll

Manual vote counting in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (JUCSU) and hall union elections has finally started.

The counting began around 10:15pm with the votes of Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall, Election Commission member Mafruhi Sattar said.

The counting is being done manually, and the results are being shown on five LED screens.

The counting may continue until tomorrow morning. In total, sixty-seven percent of the votes have been cast.

The polls, which officially were scheduled to end at 5pm, dragged on in several halls, with ballot boxes starting to arrive at the Jucsu Election Commission office only after 5:30pm.

Voting reportedly continued in some centres until around 6pm.

Tensions escalated throughout the day as five panels, including the Chhatra Dal, and three members of the Nationalist Teachers' Forum announced their boycott of the polls.

According to the election commission, out of total 11,805 registered voters, 8,003 students exercised their franchise in today’s polls.

Voter participation was notably high in several halls. Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Hall recorded 752 ballots out of 947, while Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Hall reported 810 out of 991.

Shaheed Rafiq–Jabbar Hall and 21 number Hall (Boys) also saw heavy turnout with 470 out of 656 and 564 out of 735 votes cast, respectively.

Among female halls, Rokeya Hall logged 680 votes out of 955, Jahanara Imam Hall 247 out of 367 and Fazilatunnesa Hall 489 out of 803.

Birpratik Taramon Bibi Hall and Begum Khaleda Zia Hall drew strong responses too, recording 595 out of 984 and 249 out of 409 votes.

Halls with fewer registered voters also maintained steady turnout, such as Al Beruni Hall (125 out of 211), AFM Kamal Uddin Hall (216 out of 341) and Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall (261 out of 350).