JCD activists vandalise Rucsu treasurer’s office over inclusion of first year students in voter list

Activists of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), Rajshahi University (RU) unit, vandalised and locked the office of the Rucsu treasurer this morning, demanding inclusion of first year students (2024–25 session) in the voter list of the upcoming election.

Around 9:30am, nearly 100 leaders and activists of the student body besieged the treasurer's office.

At 10:10am, they stormed inside, vandalised chairs and tables set for nomination paper distribution, and later padlocked the office.

Photo: Nur Ahsan Mridul

RU Chhatra Dal President Sultan Ahmed Rahi led the agitation accompanied by the organisation's Organising Secretary Mahmudul Mithu, Bijoy-24 Hall President Gazi Ferdous Hasan, Vice-President Ahsan Habib, and Joint General Secretary Hasib Hasan.

"We have been demanding from the beginning that first-year students must be allowed voting rights in the Rucsu polls," Rahi told reporters. "The administration has repeatedly ignored our demand. If our demands are not met, we will continue our movement."

Rucsu Treasurer Setaur Rahman, however, said: "They have been blockading the office since morning and later locked it up. Even I cannot enter. There are proper procedures to place demands, but this is definitely not one of them."

Photo: Nur Ahsan Mridul

Meanwhile, several members of the University Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (UTAB) expressed solidarity with the programme. Among them were central committee and RU unit member Prof A Naeem Faruqi, Assistant Publicity Secretary Prof Ataur Rahman, RU General Secretary Prof Jahangir Hossain Babu, Senior Vice-President Khalekuzzaman Mizan, and Nationalist Teachers' Forum President Prof Abdul Alim.

Asked why the first year student will not be allowed to vote, Rucsu Election Commissioner Mostafa Kamal Akand said the necessary procedures to make the freshers voters were not completed before the announcement of the election schedule. "Even their rolls, hall attachments, and ID cards were not prepared. Considering this, they were not included in the voter list."

It is mentionable that Rahi, who led today's protest, is not a regular student of RU. He was a student of the Department of Management Studies under the 2009–10 session.

Asked about the matter, Chhatra Dal General Secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir told this newspaper that they have just learnt about the incident and are looking into it.