Ducsu polls: Returning officer denies extending deadline to ‘favour a particular group’

Chief Returning Officer of the Ducsu election, Prof Mohammad Zashim Uddin, has dismissed allegations that the deadline for collecting nomination forms for the upcoming Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election was extended to "benefit a particular group."

"We did not extend the deadline to give special privileges to anyone. You saw how many students came yesterday. Ducsu election is their right, and we extended the deadline by one day only so that they can fully exercise that right," he told reporters at 12:40pm today.

The clarification came a day after Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad accused the authorities of favouring Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD).

At an emergency press briefing late Monday night, Abdul Kader, convener of the organisation's DU unit, alleged that the authorities extended the deadline under pressure from JCD, which had failed to finalise its panel on time.

"Since JCD could not form their panel within the timeframe, they pressured the administration to secure an extra day. They are still waiting for Tarique Rahman's decision. We fear such pressure might also influence the DUCSU election results. But we do not want to see an administration like the one in 2019, which bowed down to one student organisation," he said.