Desk Report,
Two surveys on DUCSU, candidates question impartiality
Two organizations have released two surveys in two days regarding the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) and Hall Parliament elections. Chhatra Shibir has emerged as the frontrunner in both surveys.
Two surveys on DUCSU, candidates question impartiality
However, other panels have questioned the results of the two surveys. They say that these surveys are not impartial. People in favor of Chhatra Shibir are publishing these surveys. The president of the Dhaka University branch of one of the organizations conducting the survey is participating in the DUCSU elections as a member from the Shibir panel.
A platform called Narrative said at a press conference at the Madhur Canteen of Dhaka University on Saturday that they conducted the survey on 526 students. The survey data was collected from August 30 to September 3.
The survey questions were only about the three top posts in the DUCSU elections—Vice President (VP), General Secretary (GS) and Associate General Secretary (AGS). The survey collected data from students in 14 halls on a random basis. Data was collected from an average of 38 people from each hall.
The number of halls in Dhaka University is 19. 14 for male students and 5 for female students. The survey took samples from 10 boys and 4 girls. The opinions of non-resident students were not taken. Most of the voters are non-residents. Narrative founder Abdullah Mohammad Ruhel presented the survey results at a press conference. He said that about 95 percent of students are interested in voting for DUCSU. The remaining 5 percent are not interested.
About 25 percent of students have not yet decided who they will vote for as VP. The remaining 75 percent have decided.
Among those who have decided, about 42 percent have said they will vote for Abu Sadiq Kayem of the Shibir-backed panel United Students Alliance for the VP position, Narrative claims. The organization also said that 16.5 percent of students will vote for independent candidate Shamim Hossain.
Among the participants in the survey, 14 percent of students said they would vote for Chhatra Dal VP candidate Abidul Islam Khan and about 9 percent for Independent Students Unity candidate Umama Fatima. 8 percent of students said they would vote for Abdul Quader, VP candidate of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Parliament. 11 percent of students said they would vote for other candidates. It is worth noting that in some cases, the percentage is shown in whole numbers in this report.
66 percent of students are deciding who they will vote for in the GS post. Among them, 32.5 percent are for Shibir’s SM Farhad, 16 for Chhatra Dal’s Sheikh Tanvir Bari Hamim, 16 for independent candidate Arafat Chowdhury, about 14 for Abu Baker Majumdar of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Parliament, and 9 percent for Meghmalla Basu of the Joint Panel of Seven Left Student Organizations. Other candidates will get 12.5 percent of the votes. 59 percent of students have decided who they will vote for in the AGS post. The survey claims that Shibir’s Muha. Mohiuddin Khan is leading by a huge margin in the AGS post as well. He will get about 53 percent of the votes. Tanvir Al Hadi Mayed of Chhatra Dal will get about 16, Ashrefa Khatun of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Parliament 9, Jabir Ahmed Jubel of the Left Resistance Council 4, Fateha Sharmin (Annie) of the Integrated Students’ Parliament 4 and other candidates will get 14 percent of the votes.
The four halls that have been excluded from the survey are Kabi Sufia Kamal Hall, Masterda Surya Sen Hall, Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah Hall and Salimullah Muslim Hall. The surveyors say that it was not possible to collect data as they could not get representatives from these halls.
When questioned about the impartiality of the survey, Narrative founder Abdullah Mohammad Ruhel said that they tried to conduct the survey with the utmost impartiality. However, all surveys have some deviations.
