Will Shibir’s landslide Ducsu victory redraw campus politics?

This year's Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election marked a turning point for the country. 

For the first time since independence, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) swept the polls — winning 23 of 28 central committee seats, including the coveted posts of vice-president and general secretary. 

During the 1990s, most student organisations reached a consensus against allowing Shibir to take part in politics at Dhaka University. However, after 5 August last year, Shibir has been normalised on the campus. And the outcome of Ducsu has redrawn the contours of student politics and raised urgent questions about the state of democracy, youth activism, and gender representation on campus.

Shibir, whose leaders had re-emerged in the aftermath of the July Uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina's government, has created a number of popular faces, led by Md Abu Shadik (Kayem). 

Having once operated in secrecy, Shibir fielded a full panel openly for the first time and capitalised on a fractured opposition. Observers speculate that with Chhatra Dal struggling to mobilise and read the pulse of Gen Z, and leftist groups splintered, Shibir became the principal beneficiary.

This was the first student union poll under the interim government, and the enthusiasm was high. With turnout exceeding 78%, there have been some scattered allegations of irregularities. Independent candidate Umama Fatema reported lists of Shibir-backed candidates being distributed at booths and boycotted the result, while Chhatra Dal and Abdul Qader, VP candidate from the "Boishommo Birodhi Shikkharthi Sangsad" panel, claimed ballot-stuffing in favour of their rivals.

Yet most observers concluded these anomalies were insufficient to overturn the landslide victory. The University Teachers' Network described the election as participatory. 

Asif Shahan, a professor at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, said, "There were issues with polling agents, ambiguity about rules and some other minor irregularities. But in terms of participation, 78% is a huge number and it cannot be denied. I don't think the irregularities made any noteworthy impact on the results. The allegations of result engineering have been raised, but under such scrutiny and observation surrounding the vote count, engineering such a result is extremely difficult." 

Instead, the outcome reflected a deeper shift: disenchantment with centrist parties and a growing willingness among urban, educated youth to back Shibir, even among students with liberal leanings.

This is where the anomalies take on a more symbolic than substantive role. While allegations of manipulation persist, they cannot explain why Shibir's vice-presidential candidate, Abu Shadik Kayem, secured 14,042 votes — nearly triple that of his nearest rival. The margin was too wide to be dismissed as a technical error or malpractice.

Why Shibir is popular among youngsters

Beyond organisational advantages, Shibir's appeal lay in its ability to position itself as the only credible alternative to a discredited establishment. Chhatra League's absence meant that the usual binary contest between Awami League and BNP proxies was broken. Students frustrated with both camps — especially non-residential, urban and liberal-leaning youths — were left searching for an alternative.

The result, argued Professor Shahan, was that many students voted not necessarily out of ideological sympathy for Shibir, but out of exasperation with other parties' failures. Reliance on the Liberation War narrative, he said, will not work anymore. 

"There is a deep hatred for Awami League, Sheikh Mujib and Sheikh Hasina — and it is directly being translated to an inertia towards 1971." In the absence of fresh policy-oriented visions from Chhatra Dal or the left, Shibir has emerged as the unexpected vessel of discontent.

He further said, "The winning margin is too high, so the argument that the opposition vote has been split doesn't stick. It means the non-residents, urbanites and students with a liberal mindset have also decided to vote for Shibir. If we focus on the election and the campaigns, we will see that solely relying on the spirit of the Liberation War or 1971 to win elections will not work anymore."

Firoz Ahmed, writer and political activist, said, "The biggest factor probably was that Shibir has been able to present themselves as the victims while maintaining close relationships with the students through their secret organisational network." 

They are going for an alternative, which Shibir is providing; and which Jaamat may offer in the national election. So, making 1971 the forefront of campaigning will not work at this moment. Parties need to package it with policy questions. 

Firoz Ahmed said, "Shibir has been able to convince the young voters otherwise about the concerns about their politics. They have been able to create a new image. Quoting historical precedents doesn't work all the time." 

And thinking that former Chhatra League votes went to Shibir alone or that they are filling the vacuum left by the BCL is a tricky thesis. 

Dr Asif Shahan said, "There may be a chance that the percentage of such disenfranchised votes is 20%; but we are thinking that it is 50%. That would be a very wrong calculation and hide the true change happening in the voters' mindset." 

Altaf Parvez, a political analyst and writer, said, "The society has gone through Islamisation for a few years. When students from different parts of the country come to Dhaka University, they already have a soft corner for right-wing parties. So, Shibir got a lot of votes. Moreover, Shibir has played a crucial role in the July Uprising, which gained them much popularity." 

The Islamisation of society over the past five years also provided fertile ground, but it was not the only factor. Shibir's victory was also powered by liberal votes — a startling outcome that speaks to a generational demand for alternatives, even if it means embracing groups once considered beyond the pale.

He added, "BNP has been ignoring various poll results for a while now. However, all the polls are consistently showing that among the educated urban youth, the support for Jaamat is higher than the support for BNP. The Ducsu result is a validation of that claim. The polls have shown that the BNP or the other centrist or liberal parties cannot reach out to that group. This is an absolute failure." 

The missing women of Ducsu

If Shibir's triumph was the most visible feature of this election, the absence of women was its most troubling. Despite having been at the forefront of last year's protests — facing bullets, harassment and intimidation — female students were starkly under-represented in the ballot. 

Only 62 of the 471 candidates were women, just 13%. The gender imbalance was particularly glaring in top positions. Of 45 candidates for vice-president, only five were women; for general secretary, just one. In Ducsu's century-long history, only three women have ever been elected to these posts. This year's numbers suggest that the cycle of women leading protest movements but being sidelined in formal politics continues.

Turnout figures revealed another anomaly: participation among women lagged behind men in several halls. While Surya Sen Hall recorded an 88% turnout, female-only Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall saw just 67%. The gap was not due to apathy but fear. Many women reported avoiding polling centres to escape harassment or online targeting. 

During campaigning, female candidates reported waves of online abuse — ranging from slut-shaming to doctored explicit images. One candidate faced direct threats of gang rape on Facebook. Shibir's critics alleged the group operated bot networks to target rivals. However, it did not affect their votes. 

Shibir's response, according to Professor Shahan, was to deflect, "They have adopted the approach that — look, the other parties also do it. They are not any better." Shibir alleged similar cyberbullying from JCD supporters. This relativism blunted the impact of the issue.

"All arguments regarding women ended up in bot attacks. However, there were no arguments about the lived experiences of the female students. Chhatra Dal couldn't provide a vision to improve the life of the female students, nor could the leftists or others," Shahan further said. 

Firoz Ahmed said, "Shibir has been able to present a tolerant and liberal message to the voters. Most of the cyberbullying by bots was targeted towards female political activists. The common women may not be that badly affected, so they may not be able to understand the sheer scale of this attack. Many women probably didn't notice the growing attacks by the bots."  

Campus politics has long served as a microcosm of national politics. And it will undoubtedly affect the outcome of the upcoming student union elections at the Jahangirnagar University and Rajshahi University. 

If that holds true, the rise of Shibir at Dhaka University suggests that Bangladesh's political future will be shaped less by the rhetoric of liberation and more by the lived frustrations of a restless generation. 

Whether this is a fleeting anomaly or the start of a larger transformation remains the question — but for now, the campus has spoken loudly, and its message is one the nation cannot ignore.

This year's Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election marked a turning point for the country. 

For the first time since independence, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) swept the polls — winning 23 of 28 central committee seats, including the coveted posts of vice-president and general secretary. 

During the 1990s, most student organisations reached a consensus against allowing Shibir to take part in politics at Dhaka University. However, after 5 August last year, Shibir has been normalised on the campus. And the outcome of Ducsu has redrawn the contours of student politics and raised urgent questions about the state of democracy, youth activism, and gender representation on campus.

Shibir, whose leaders had re-emerged in the aftermath of the July Uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina's government, has created a number of popular faces, led by Md Abu Shadik (Kayem). 

Having once operated in secrecy, Shibir fielded a full panel openly for the first time and capitalised on a fractured opposition. Observers speculate that with Chhatra Dal struggling to mobilise and read the pulse of Gen Z, and leftist groups splintered, Shibir became the principal beneficiary.

This was the first student union poll under the interim government, and the enthusiasm was high. With turnout exceeding 78%, there have been some scattered allegations of irregularities. Independent candidate Umama Fatema reported lists of Shibir-backed candidates being distributed at booths and boycotted the result, while Chhatra Dal and Abdul Qader, VP candidate from the "Boishommo Birodhi Shikkharthi Sangsad" panel, claimed ballot-stuffing in favour of their rivals.

Yet most observers concluded these anomalies were insufficient to overturn the landslide victory. The University Teachers' Network described the election as participatory. 

Asif Shahan, a professor at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, said, "There were issues with polling agents, ambiguity about rules and some other minor irregularities. But in terms of participation, 78% is a huge number and it cannot be denied. I don't think the irregularities made any noteworthy impact on the results. The allegations of result engineering have been raised, but under such scrutiny and observation surrounding the vote count, engineering such a result is extremely difficult." 

Instead, the outcome reflected a deeper shift: disenchantment with centrist parties and a growing willingness among urban, educated youth to back Shibir, even among students with liberal leanings.

This is where the anomalies take on a more symbolic than substantive role. While allegations of manipulation persist, they cannot explain why Shibir's vice-presidential candidate, Abu Shadik Kayem, secured 14,042 votes — nearly triple that of his nearest rival. The margin was too wide to be dismissed as a technical error or malpractice.

Why Shibir is popular among youngsters

Beyond organisational advantages, Shibir's appeal lay in its ability to position itself as the only credible alternative to a discredited establishment. Chhatra League's absence meant that the usual binary contest between Awami League and BNP proxies was broken. Students frustrated with both camps — especially non-residential, urban and liberal-leaning youths — were left searching for an alternative.

The result, argued Professor Shahan, was that many students voted not necessarily out of ideological sympathy for Shibir, but out of exasperation with other parties' failures. Reliance on the Liberation War narrative, he said, will not work anymore. 

"There is a deep hatred for Awami League, Sheikh Mujib and Sheikh Hasina — and it is directly being translated to an inertia towards 1971." In the absence of fresh policy-oriented visions from Chhatra Dal or the left, Shibir has emerged as the unexpected vessel of discontent.

He further said, "The winning margin is too high, so the argument that the opposition vote has been split doesn't stick. It means the non-residents, urbanites and students with a liberal mindset have also decided to vote for Shibir. If we focus on the election and the campaigns, we will see that solely relying on the spirit of the Liberation War or 1971 to win elections will not work anymore."

Firoz Ahmed, writer and political activist, said, "The biggest factor probably was that Shibir has been able to present themselves as the victims while maintaining close relationships with the students through their secret organisational network." 

They are going for an alternative, which Shibir is providing; and which Jaamat may offer in the national election. So, making 1971 the forefront of campaigning will not work at this moment. Parties need to package it with policy questions. 

Firoz Ahmed said, "Shibir has been able to convince the young voters otherwise about the concerns about their politics. They have been able to create a new image. Quoting historical precedents doesn't work all the time." 

And thinking that former Chhatra League votes went to Shibir alone or that they are filling the vacuum left by the BCL is a tricky thesis. 

Dr Asif Shahan said, "There may be a chance that the percentage of such disenfranchised votes is 20%; but we are thinking that it is 50%. That would be a very wrong calculation and hide the true change happening in the voters' mindset." 

Altaf Parvez, a political analyst and writer, said, "The society has gone through Islamisation for a few years. When students from different parts of the country come to Dhaka University, they already have a soft corner for right-wing parties. So, Shibir got a lot of votes. Moreover, Shibir has played a crucial role in the July Uprising, which gained them much popularity." 

The Islamisation of society over the past five years also provided fertile ground, but it was not the only factor. Shibir's victory was also powered by liberal votes — a startling outcome that speaks to a generational demand for alternatives, even if it means embracing groups once considered beyond the pale.

He added, "BNP has been ignoring various poll results for a while now. However, all the polls are consistently showing that among the educated urban youth, the support for Jaamat is higher than the support for BNP. The Ducsu result is a validation of that claim. The polls have shown that the BNP or the other centrist or liberal parties cannot reach out to that group. This is an absolute failure." 

The missing women of Ducsu

If Shibir's triumph was the most visible feature of this election, the absence of women was its most troubling. Despite having been at the forefront of last year's protests — facing bullets, harassment and intimidation — female students were starkly under-represented in the ballot. 

Only 62 of the 471 candidates were women, just 13%. The gender imbalance was particularly glaring in top positions. Of 45 candidates for vice-president, only five were women; for general secretary, just one. In Ducsu's century-long history, only three women have ever been elected to these posts. This year's numbers suggest that the cycle of women leading protest movements but being sidelined in formal politics continues.

Turnout figures revealed another anomaly: participation among women lagged behind men in several halls. While Surya Sen Hall recorded an 88% turnout, female-only Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall saw just 67%. The gap was not due to apathy but fear. Many women reported avoiding polling centres to escape harassment or online targeting. 

During campaigning, female candidates reported waves of online abuse — ranging from slut-shaming to doctored explicit images. One candidate faced direct threats of gang rape on Facebook. Shibir's critics alleged the group operated bot networks to target rivals. However, it did not affect their votes. 

Shibir's response, according to Professor Shahan, was to deflect, "They have adopted the approach that — look, the other parties also do it. They are not any better." Shibir alleged similar cyberbullying from JCD supporters. This relativism blunted the impact of the issue.

"All arguments regarding women ended up in bot attacks. However, there were no arguments about the lived experiences of the female students. Chhatra Dal couldn't provide a vision to improve the life of the female students, nor could the leftists or others," Shahan further said. 

Firoz Ahmed said, "Shibir has been able to present a tolerant and liberal message to the voters. Most of the cyberbullying by bots was targeted towards female political activists. The common women may not be that badly affected, so they may not be able to understand the sheer scale of this attack. Many women probably didn't notice the growing attacks by the bots."  

Campus politics has long served as a microcosm of national politics. And it will undoubtedly affect the outcome of the upcoming student union elections at the Jahangirnagar University and Rajshahi University. 

If that holds true, the rise of Shibir at Dhaka University suggests that Bangladesh's political future will be shaped less by the rhetoric of liberation and more by the lived frustrations of a restless generation. 

Whether this is a fleeting anomaly or the start of a larger transformation remains the question — but for now, the campus has spoken loudly, and its message is one the nation cannot ignore.