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Published : 10 Sep 2025, 09:55 AM
Islami Chhatra Shibir has swept the top three positions in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) elections, clinching the vice-president (VP), general secretary (GS) and assistant general secretary (AGS) posts in its first appearance at the polls.
Abu Shadik Kayem secured the VP post by a commanding margin, while his running mate SM Farhad was similarly dominant in the GS race. Their panel colleague Md Mohiuddin Khan triumphed as assistant general secretary.
The Shibir-backed slate routed candidates from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, in results announced on Wednesday morning at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban after an all-night count.
Ballot counting at the eight centres covering 18 residential halls ended in the early hours, with Prof Md Jasim Uddin, the chief returning officer, formally declaring the results after 8am.
Declared counts show Shadik securing a total of 14,042 votes, far outpacing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s Abidul Islam Khan with 5,658, while independent Umama Fatema polled 3,389.
In the GS race, Farhad clinched 10,796 votes, well ahead of Chhatra Dal’s Shaikh Tanvir Hamim on 5,283, with Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangshad candidate Abu Baker Mojumder trailing on 1,809.
Meanwhile, Shibir’s Mohiuddin polled 11,772 votes to take the AGS post, leaving Chhatra Dal’s Thanbir Al Hadi Moyed (5,064) and independent Tahmid Al Muddassir Chowdhury (3,008) in his wake.
Tuesday’s vote was held peacefully across 810 booths, with nearly 40,000 students eligible to cast their ballots in the first DUCSU election in six years, set against the backdrop of the July Uprising that reshaped Bangladesh’s political landscape.
STUNNING SWEEP
Of the 12 secretary posts, Shibir candidates secured nine:
Three secretary posts went to independents:
CHHATRA DAL DRAWS BLANK, RIGGING ALLEGATIONS ABOUND
In a humiliating whitewash for rivals, the BNP's student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the leftist Protirodh Parshad, the Aparajeyo 71–Adommo 24 coalition, and the NCP-backed Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangshad failed to bag a single post.
Shibir's landslide win, however, was swiftly clouded by allegations of irregularities. Independent candidate Umama Fatema, a leading figure in last year’s July Uprising, boycotted the vote, calling it “a black night in Bangladesh’s history” and accusing Shibir of “betrayal with the nation”.
Chhatra Dal’s VP candidate Abidul Islam Khan also rejected the outcome, posting on Facebook that the “pre-planned rigged result” was no surprise. Earlier in the night, he alleged that supposedly empty ballot boxes were later found stuffed, saying the vote “outdid even Hasina-era fraud”.
But his running mate, GS candidate Shaikh Tanvir Baree Hamim, struck a different note, saying he would respect the students’ verdict while pointing to “irregularities during counting, machine glitches, and manipulation”.
Chhatra Dal staged protests during the night, alleging ballots were pre-marked for Shibir candidates and accusing Jamaat-e-Islami activists of massing at entry points around campus.
Shibir leaders rejected the claims, accusing BNP and allied activists of trying to discredit the polls. GS-elect SM Farhad alleged that “BNP and Jubo Dal cadres were deployed at nine points to exert pressure”.
