'Failed to find indelible ink across the country,' says Cucsu CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the Chittagong University Central Students' Union (Cucsu), Monir Uddin, has said indelible ink could not be found anywhere in the country ahead of today's election, terming it a sign of "national incompetence."

He made the remark during a briefing after candidates backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) alleged that the ink used to mark voters' fingers was easily removable.

"We had searched everywhere, from Chawkbazar (of Chattogram) to Dhaka. We even went to the Election Commission office. But we couldn't find any permanent ink," Monir said.

"The Election Commission informed us that the ink is imported from Germany before every national election. For security reasons, leftover ink is destroyed after each election and never stored. So, it's impossible to get it elsewhere," he added.

He said, "We couldn't find a better ink -- in fact, we couldn't find it at all. But using ink is not mandatory."

The CEC noted that universities such as Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University had faced similar problems during their student union elections.

"As we have photo-attached voter lists and ID verification inside polling booths, that's sufficient for security," he said.

Regarding reports that 12 ballot papers were issued without signatures at the IT Faculty, the commissioner acknowledged the incident.

"We've heard about it and discussed it. It happened subconsciously on the part of polling officials. This is our first election in many years. Those ballots will be separated after opening the boxes, and verification will be done during counting," he said.

Reacting to the CEC's remarks, JCD-backed vice president candidate Sazzad Hossain Hridoy alleged that the commission was "lying" about the ink issue.

"They told us the same thing before the election. The commission has lost credibility among everyone. The university authorities and the commission are conspiring to favour a certain panel in the Cucsu election," he said.