Petition filed with HC seeking stay order

A Dhaka University (DU) student yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court (HC) seeking a stay on the process for holding Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election slated for March 11.

Fahmida Mazid, a postgraduate student of international relations department and female student affairs secretary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) central executive committee, submitted the petition.

The petitioner also prayed to the court to issue a rule on the government and DU authorities to explain why excluding her name from the voter list of Ducsu election should not be declared illegal.

In the petition, she challenged the legality of the election saying that there are “anomalies” in the voter list, as her and several others' names have not been included.

Fahmida also said that due to the anomaly in the voters' list, she cannot contest the election. 

Petitioner's lawyer Barrister Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal told The Daily Star that the HC may hold hearing on the petition today.

Since the dissolution of Ducsu in 1998, several attempts were made to arrange the election but all in vain. The last polls to Ducsu and hall unions took place in 1990.

On February 11, 2019, DU authorities announced the schedule of elections to Ducsu and hall unions saying the polls will be held on March 11 with polling centres set up at the dormitories.

The final list of candidates will be published on March 3, while the supplementary voter list will be published on March 5.