The Supreme Court’s Appellate Division has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday regarding the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election, following a High Court order that had stayed the election process until October 30, which was later stayed by Chamber Court.
Justice Farah Mahbub of the Appellate Division’s Chamber Court, however, issued an order on Tuesday, setting the matter for hearing before the Chief Justice-led Appellate Division bench.
Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua represented the petitioner, while Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir appeared on behalf of Dhaka University.
The writ petition was filed by BM Fahmida Alam, a candidate nominated by the Left Alliance, challenging the candidacy of SM Farhad, nominated as the General Secretary candidate by the Islami Chhatra Shibit-backed United Students’ Alliance. The petitioner alleged that Farhad’s candidacy violated the DUCSU constitution and that he was affiliated with the banned student organisation, Chhatra League.
On Monday, the High Court bench of Justice Md. Habibul Gani and Justice Sheikh Tahsin Ali suspended the DUCSU election process until October 30 and issued a rule questioning the legality of Farhad’s candidacy. The High Court also directed the petitioner to submit relevant evidence regarding the allegations to the university’s Election Tribunal within 15 days. The tribunal was instructed to investigate and report back to the High Court by October 21.
However, later that day, Dhaka University authorities filed a hand-written civil miscellaneous petition before the Chamber Court seeking a stay on the High Court order. The Chamber Court subsequently stayed the order until the Appellate Division hearing.
Following this development, DU’s lawyer Advocate Shishir Monir stated that there was no longer any legal bar to continuing with the DUCSU election process.
According to the schedule, the DUCSU and hall union polls are set to take place on September 9. This year, 471 candidates are contesting for 28 DUCSU posts, including 62 women candidates. For the member positions, 217 candidates are competing. Additionally, across 18 halls, 1,035 candidates are running for 13 posts each.
In this election, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Islami Chhatra Shibir, and Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad are contesting with separate panels. Left-leaning student groups formed two panels, while around 10 panels in total, both full and partial, are participating.
