DUCSU: Maheen pulls out of GS race

Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) general secretary (GS) candidate Maheen Sarkar, from the Combined Students' Alliance panel - led by Jamal Uddin Khalid, has stepped aside from the race in favor of Bangladesh Democratic Students' Union's central convener Abu Bakar Mojumdar. Maheen made the announcement from a press conference on Friday.

"Since there is no option to formally withdraw oneself from the election, my name will remain on the ballot. But I call on my supporters to cast their votes for Abu Bakar Mojumdar. His victory will be considered my own," he said.

Maheen entered the race as a candidate from the National Citizen's Party (NCP). However, just hours after declaring his candidacy, he was expelled from the party on charges of "serious breach of discipline".

Reacting to the issue, Jamal Uddin Khalid, vice-president candidate of the panel, expressed frustration in a Facebook post. He wrote, "The vile politics of threatening to spread personal information online in order to force a candidate to step aside will one day come back to haunt those responsible. Failing to make me silent, you are once again trying to break our panel. Let's wait and see where this backfires."