Desk Report:
The distribution of nomination papers for the Chittagong University Central Students’ Union (CHAKSU) and Hall Parliament elections has begun. The process began at 9 am today, Sunday, at the CHAKSU building. Candidates can collect their nomination papers until 3:30 pm on Tuesday and submit their nomination papers until 3:30 pm on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has also released the final voter list. Compared to the previous draft, 1,768 new voters have been added, bringing the total number of voters to 27,634.
However, the commission could not reveal the number of students in this list. The list will be announced tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, said Election Commission Member Secretary AKM Ariful Haque Siddiqui.
He said, “We have set the nomination fee for the Hall Parliament at Tk 200 and the fee for the Central Parliament at Tk 300. While collecting the nomination papers, the candidate will be given a card to undergo a dope test. Later, the candidate will take the card and pay a fee of 350 taka and submit a dope test sample to the university medical center. While taking the nomination, proof of the final voter list online and the student’s voter ID number will have to be given. Then, the nomination will have to be taken by showing the identity card. While submitting the nomination, the candidate will have to bring his identity card, photo and dope test results.’
The Election Commission said that three candidates have taken the nomination papers since 9 am.
When asked about the organization of the election, Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Monir Uddin said, ‘We are very optimistic about the election. Many members of the Chaksu Election Commission may have party affiliations. However, we are committed to conducting the election with 100% transparency. We have taken an oath for this election, which is not known to have been done by anyone in any other student union election. For now, no student organization is facing any obstacles. We want to give the gift of a clean Chaksu election to establish the rights of students.’
As per the schedule, the primary list of candidates will be published on September 21. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nomination papers on September 23. The final list of candidates will be published on September 25. Voting will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on October 12. Students will vote using the OMR system, like DUCSU.
