Leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) held a sit-in outside the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka, today, accusing the commission of bias in postal ballot and student union election rulings.
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The protest began around 10:00am, with JCD leaders and activists gathering in front of the EC.
Speaking at the protest, JCD President Rakibul Islam, “We have seen that a specific political group exerted influence to carry out such activities related to ballot papers, and those sitting inside the Election Commission could not have been unaware of it. These incidents took place with their direct instigation and support,” he alleged.
Rakibul further claimed that similar discrimination was being repeated in student union polls, including Shahjalal University of Science and Technology’s (SUST) upcoming central student union and hall elections, as well as recent elections at Jagannath University.
“In all these cases, we are being deliberately undermined, and the Election Commission has played a role in it,” he said, adding that the situation reflects the influence of the student wing of a particular political party.
JCD leaders said their protest was based on three demands: an end to what they described as the EC’s biased and questionable decisions regarding postal ballots; avoidance of “rash decisions” taken under political pressure; and withdrawal of what they termed an unprecedented and controversial directive regarding the SUST student union election.
On January 15, the Election Commission allowed SUST to hold its student and hall union elections as scheduled on January 20.
Meanwhile, the ninth and final day of appeal hearings against Returning Officers’ decisions on nomination papers for the 13th national election was underway inside the EC auditorium today. The hearings are being conducted by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin and four other commissioners.
According to the EC, 398 aspirants regained their candidacy over the past eight days of hearings. Electoral symbols will be distributed to final candidates on Tuesday, while campaigning is set to begin on Wednesday.
Earlier, 2,568 aspirants submitted nomination papers for the 13th national election by the December 29 deadline. Following scrutiny, the EC declared 1,842 nominations valid and 723 invalid on January 4. A total of 645 appeals were filed between January 5 and 9.
