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Published : 07 Jan 2026, 05:11 PM
Candidates backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir have captured all three top posts in the Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU), cementing the group’s dominance in campus politics amid a shifting national landscape.
Results declared late on Wednesday night showed Riazul Islam elected vice-president (VP), Abdul Alim Arif as general secretary (GS) and Masud Rana as assistant general secretary (AGS), a clean sweep of the union’s most powerful offices.
The victory extends a broader winning streak for Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, which has secured decisive gains in recent central students’ union elections at Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, University of Chittagong and University of Rajshahi.
Student union elections have resumed nationwide after a prolonged hiatus, following the collapse of the Awami League government and the re-opening of campus political space.
In each of the major universities that voted earlier, Shibir-backed panels emerged dominant, a pattern that Wednesday’s Jagannath results now reinforce.
At Jagannath University, candidates from the Shibir-supported Odommo Jobian Oikko panel defeated rivals backed by the BNP-aligned Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and the Chhatra Odhikar Parishad in all three marquee contests.
With the latest results, Shibir has tightened its grip on student politics across public universities, signalling a decisive realignment of campus power centres in post-uprising Bangladesh.
VP-elect Riazul, also president of the Shibir’s university unit, secured 5,558 votes. His nearest challenger, Rakib of the Chhatra Dal–Chhatra Odhikar panel, polled 4,688.
Rakib heads the Chhatra Odhikar Parishad’s Jagannath University unit.
In the GS race, Arif clinched victory with 5,470 votes. His closest rival, Khadijatul Kubra, managed 1,973, leaving a margin of 3,497.
Masud won the AGS post with 5,018 votes, defeating Atiqul Rahman Tanzil, who secured 4,075 -- a margin of 943.
Rakib, Khadijatul Kubra and Tanzil stayed neck-and-neck during the initial result announcements but slipped back as tallies from later centres were added.
After the central union results were declared, counting began for the student representative election at the university’s sole residential hall.
All results were announced at the central auditorium once counting concluded.
Voting took place on Tuesday, with only a few isolated incidents reported. The election commission said about 66 percent of the university’s roughly 16,500 voters cast ballots.
Polling closed at 4pm, and counting started at 6.30pm. The process was briefly derailed by OMR-related complications, prompting a prolonged pause before resuming late at night and continuing into Wednesday.
Four groups contested the election, with the contest largely between Shibir-backed and Chhatra Dal-backed candidates. Twelve candidates ran for VP, nine for GS and eight for AGS.
As the university has no male residential hall, hall voting was held only at Nawab Faizunnesa Choudhurani Hall, where 1,242 voters elected 13 representatives.
