Jannatul Ferdous Moumita (31), an assistant professor of the Fine Arts Department of Jahangirnagar University, suddenly fell ill this Friday morning while performing her duties as a polling officer in the JACSU elections. She was rushed to Enam Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared her dead.

The incident took place before 8 am this morning in front of the vote counting room on the third floor of the Senate Building. Jannatul Ferdous was on duty as a polling officer in Pritilata Hall.

The news of her sudden death made other polling officers engaged in vote counting break down in tears. A mournful atmosphere descended on the entire campus.

JACSU Election Commissioner Rezwana Karim addressed the audience through a microphone,

“We are in deep mourning at this moment. I request everyone to pray for Jannatul. However, it is not possible to leave the task of duty incomplete, we have to finish it.”

Fine Arts Department President Associate Professor Shamim Reza said that after returning home after voting on Thursday evening, he came to the Senate Building again at around 7:30 am today to perform his duties. But he suddenly fell unconscious in front of the door of the counting room.

University Proctor and Member Secretary of the Election Commission Professor AKM Rashidul Alam said,
“This incident has created an atmosphere of mourning on the entire campus.”

Meanwhile, after voting at 5 pm on Thursday, counting activities have been going on at the Senate Building since Friday morning. By 11 am, the counting of votes for 12 halls of parliament was completed, work is underway for four and the counting of the remaining five has not yet started.

The Election Commission said that it will be possible to announce the final results of the JACSU elections by Friday afternoon.