Voting underway in CUCSU election

The voting for the Chittagong University Central Students’ Union (CUCSU) election is currently underway. Balloting began at 9am on Wednesday, October 15, across 15 centres in five faculty buildings and will continue until 4pm.

Ballot papers were delivered to the centres before voting began. Each faculty building has an executive magistrate on duty, while the voting process is being monitored through more than 200 CCTV cameras.

After the voting ends, the counting will be carried out in two phases — one by a vendor organisation and the other by the university’s ICT cell. Votes will be counted immediately at each centre, and results will be announced from every polling station. The final results will be declared at the Faculty of Business Administration auditorium once all centre results are received.

At a campus briefing on Monday, Lt Col Hafizur Rahman, commanding officer of RAB-7, said, “There are no threats from students. We expect the election to be held peacefully.”

Although 13 panels are contesting the election, the main competition is expected between the Chhatra Dal and the Chhatra Shibir. After defeats in the DUCSU and JUCSU elections, Chhatra Shibir aims to continue its winning streak in CUCSU, while Chhatra Dal is making strong efforts to regain ground.

The entire campus has been placed under a four-tier security blanket for the election. Around 1,200 members from the police, RAB, and other law enforcement agencies have been deployed, with the army standing by as a striking force.