The official campaign for the Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (RUCSU) election began on Monday.
Candidates will be allowed to campaign daily from 10:00am to 10:00pm.
A total of 28,905 students are eligible to vote in the RUCSU election. Among them, 17,600 voters are from the 11 male residential halls, while 11,305 voters are from the six female residential halls.
The election will be held on 25 September after a long wait of 35 years, and the results will be announced the same day after the counting is completed.
Meanwhile, the election has also sparked mixed reactions among students.
Many believe that since RUCSU had remained inactive for so long, they were left without an effective platform to raise the university's issues. They feel this election has created an opportunity to bridge that gap.
For some, it represents a new possibility for democratic practice, while others fear it may bring back domination and violence in the name of politics.
A total of 903 candidates are contesting the RUCSU, senate student representative and hall union polls, according to the final list of candidates released by Chief Returning Officer Professor Setaur Rahman Sunday.
Among the candidates, 248 are vying for central student union posts, 58 for the senate student representatives, and 597 for posts in the 17 residential halls.
According to RUCSU election commission sources, 18 candidates will contest for the post of vice president, 13 for the post of general secretary (GS), and 16 for the post of assistant general secretary (AGS) in the central student union body.
Sixty-one candidates are vying for the posts of VP, 58 for the posts of GS, and 57 for the posts of AGS in 17 residential halls. This includes the polls for six female residential halls, for which the 16 candidates are contesting for the posts of VP, 16 for the posts of GS, and 15 for the posts of AGS.
Candidates were allotted ballot numbers through a lottery on Sunday. Earlier, it was decided to have a policy of giving the same ballot number to everyone in the same panel, but on Saturday, following demands from independent candidates, a lottery policy was adopted for all candidates.
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