Authorities are mulling over relaxing the charter for candidacy in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) and hall council polls.
They are likely to relax the age policy so that students aged 29 to 30 pursuing post graduate studies can compete in the polls.
The decision will be finalised during the university’s policymaking syndicate meeting on Tuesday (Jan 29), confirmed DU Proctor AKM Golam Rabbani.
“The authorities are thinking about the student organizations’ proposals,” Rabbani told Bangla Tribune.
“They are looking into whether the age limit can be relaxed. In that case the limit might be 29 or 30 years,” he added.
The regular Dhaka University students are general members and voters of DUCSU and anyone amongst them can participate in the election.
However, the university policy is very specific about how long one can retain ‘student-ship.’
According to the semester system, a regular undergrad student gets four years to complete their degree while an irregular student gets six years.
The same way, one gets two years to complete their post graduate. If they are unable to do so, the vice chancellor will decide whether they can still remain as student.
The DUCSU charter stated that all regular DU students are voters and members but they must clear out their dues.
On the other hands, those that are not regular students, will have to pay a registration fee.
The DUCSU charter was revised in 1991, where students with study gap who got re admitted for a course were barred from voting.
As a result, any student who enrolled for masters, MPhil or PHD were not considered voters. Moreover, if a student completes their undergrad from another university and enrols at DU for post graduates they were barred from voting as well.
On Jan 21, Chatra League’s Central Committee forwarded a proposal to fix a age limit for the polls given that DUCSU was polls were closed for a while now and those who are still students within the age limit of 29 or 30 can still take part in the race.