Jamaat student wing wins Dhaka University election in political upset

• Dhaka University polls seen as bellwether for Bangladesh politics, Professor Md Shahabul Haque tells Anadolu

DHAKA, Bangladesh

The student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami won a landslide in Dhaka University’s student body election, marking the first time the Islamist group has taken control of the influential union since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.

Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir candidate Abu Shadik Kayem won the presidency of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), while the group also captured the two other top positions. In total, it secured 23 of 28 posts in Tuesday’s election.

More than 78% of students voted in the eight-hour ballot, which university authorities described as “largely fair.”

Political significance

Dhaka University has long been seen as a cradle of Bangladesh’s politics. Analysts say the vote signals anger at past governments and could shape the country’s national direction.

“Yes, Dhaka University and its student union election are considered to be a paradigm for Bangladesh national politics,” said Md Shahabul Haque, professor of political studies at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

He said the result reflected frustration with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration: “Jamaat and Chhatrashibir were among the political groups that faced political persecution in the last 15 years under Sheikh Hasina government.”

The last DUCSU election was held in 2019. Hasina’s Awami League government was toppled in August last year following a student-led uprising, forcing her into exile in India.

Since then, Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has pledged to hold general elections in February.

Reactions to vote

Political observers described the outcome as a “surprise” and a possible “sign of change.” But Haque cautioned against reading it as a broader right-wing surge: “I don’t see any major shift or uprising of the right wing in Bangladesh politics right now. It refers that people want to see change as they get the chance to express their thoughts freely after the fall of the authoritarian regime in last year's uprising.”

Founded in 1977, Chhatrashibir has been a prominent Islamist student group for many years.

“This victory belongs to all the stakeholders of the July Revolution,” said Kayem, referring to the uprising that ousted the Awami League government.