Islamist student group sweeps 2nd major university union polls in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam's student front swept the central students union election at Jahangirnagar University (JU) on Saturday, less than week after its triumph at the Dhaka University.

According to an official announcement, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) secured 20 out of 25 posts in the JU Central Students' Union (JUCSU) election, even though it was virtually banned for nearly 35 years on the suburban campus.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia's BNP-backed student group JCD, which emerged as the single major group in the absence of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina's now disbanded Awami League, could not secure any seat.

The panel nominated by Students against Discrimination (SAD), the platform that led the last year's violent street movement ousting prime minister Hasina's regime, too, secured only two of the 25 posts.  The interim government under Professor Muhammad Yunus last year banned Awami League's student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), calling it a "terrorist organisation," a designation that automatically disqualified the group from the polls.  The Yunus administration in a subsequent executive order also disbanded Awami League until Hasina and her colleagues' trials were completed on charges like crimes against humanity.     The top elected post, vice president's, however, was won by Abdur Rashid Zitu, who contested from a newly formed group called Swatantra Shikkharthi Sammilon as its top leader. No one else from his group bagged any other seat.

Zitu bagged 3,332 votes, while ICS candidate Arifullah Adib emerged as his nearest rival.   According to the university statute, the president's post of the central students' union is reserved for the vice chancellor.    Zitu was originally a BCL leader who quit the group and joined SAD as its campaign gained strength during July-August last year. He recently abandoned the SAD as well to form his own group.

The ICS announced its JU committee in October 2024 for the first time since 1989, when all student and other campus-based groups banned it after its activists killed a JCD activist.

On Wednesday, the Islamist student group won a landslide victory in Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) polls, securing nine out of 12 posts, keeping the SAD supported panel candidates at bay.

The Rajshahi University in southwestern Bangladesh is also set to hold its students' union election.

The ICS victory in DUCSU and JUCSU has surprised many, as the two major public universities were not known as its strongholds, unlike the Rajshahi University where the group is said to have kept a strong presence for decades.

JCD boycotted both the DUCSU polls after the end of the voting, alleging that the polls were manipulated, but failed to rally any major support even from BNP.

Bangladesh is slated to undergo a general election in February next year as announced by Yunus.