New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming polls in February, the once-absent Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has consolidated its hold over Bangladesh’s university campuses.
In the past five months, Shibir has swept off all the key student elections across five universities. The latest came Thursday when candidates backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir swept Jagannath University’s first student union elections, capturing all top leadership posts.
The Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel secured the key positions of vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary at the university. The rival Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian panel, backed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP)-backed Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, won the remaining five posts.
In the vice-presidential race, Riazul Islam of the Shibir-backed panel won 5,564 votes, defeating AKM Rakib of the Chhatra Dal-backed Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian panel, who secured 4,688 votes, Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo reported.
জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় কেন্দ্রীয় শিক্ষার্থী সংসদ (জকসু) নির্বাচন-২০২৫ এ নির্বাচিত ভিপি, জিএস ও এজিএসসহ বিজয়ী সবাইকে অভিনন্দন।#জকসু #JnUSU #chhatrashibir pic.twitter.com/dXv1hUQANa
— Bangladesh Islami Chhatrashibir (@info_shibir) January 7, 2026
The outcome follows a series of wins by Shibir-backed candidates in student union and hall union elections, including those at Dhaka, Jahangirnagar, Rajshahi and Chittagong universities. Student activists from all these universities were at the forefront of the July 2024 protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Moreover, with this Shibir now has two of the most important university campuses under its control in Bangladesh—Jahangirnagar University and Dhaka University. Dhaka University is considered to be the bellwether for elections in Bangladesh.
In Jaganath university elections, the Shibir-backed candidates running under the ‘Odomyo Jobian Oikko’ panel won all three top posts and 16 of the 21 seats in the university’s central students’ union. Chhatra Dal, the student wing of BNP, and Chhatra Odhikar Parishad-backed panel ‘Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian’ panel won five posts.
Supporters of the winning candidates held a victory procession on campus, raising slogans such as ‘Delhi na Dhaka, Dhaka Dhaka,’ ‘Tumi ke ami ke—Hadi Hadi,’ and ‘Golami na Azadi—Azadi Azadi.’
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Jamaat’s growing influence
In September, Shibir-backed candidates won 23 of the 28 seats in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), including the key posts of vice-president, general secretary and assistant general secretary. The win is said to be the first time since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 that an Islamist-backed student group dominated a central university union election so decisively.
The DUCSU polls were the first major elections held since the ouster of Hasina in August last year.
Shadik Kayem, backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir, won the vice-president’s post with 14,042 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Abidul Islam Khan of the BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), who secured 5,708 votes. Shibir-backed candidates SM Farhad and Mohammad Mohiddun Khan won the general secretary and assistant general secretary posts, respectively. The JCD failed to secure any of the top positions.
The last DUCSU election was held in 2019.
Then in October, Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Sommilito Shikkharthi Jote swept the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU) election, winning 20 out of 23 central posts.
Mostakur Rahman Jahid from the Sommilito Shikkharthi Jote was elected vice-president with 12,687 votes, defeating Sheikh Nur Uddin Abir of the BNP-backed Oikyaboddho Notun Projonmo panel, who received 3,397 votes.
In the same month, after 44 years, the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Sompritir Shikkharthi Jote panel won the posts of vice-president, general secretary, and 22 other positions in the Chittagong University Central Students’ Union election.
For the vice-president post, Shibir-backed candidate Ibrahim Roni was elected with 7,983 votes. His nearest rival, Chhatra Dal-backed candidate Sazzad Hossain, got 4,374 votes.
In September, for the very first time in the history of Jahangirnagar University, Islami Chhatra Shibir swept the central student union polls, winning 20 of the 25 posts.
The victory of the Shibir-backed panel in Jahangirnagar University was then welcomed by Shafikur Rahman, Ameer of Jamaat in Bangladesh, who said, “Today a big responsibility has been placed on the students. (I) hope they will give the highest importance to preserving our trust.”
The election results come amid a broader reshaping of Bangladesh’s political order. Following Hasina’s removal, student politics was formally banned at dozens of higher education institutions, and the Awami League’s student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, was outlawed under anti-terrorism laws.
Jamaat-e-Islami itself, banned for more than a decade under Hasina, saw its prohibition lifted by the Supreme Court in 2025. Earlier, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration had revoked the ban on Jamaat in 2024.
While the BNP has emerged as the largest mainstream political force since Hasina’s fall, Jamaat-e-Islami has moved quickly to consolidate its position, pushed by its role in last year’s protests. The party has also re-entered diplomatic and political life, holding high-level meetings, including with Pakistan’s foreign minister during his visit to Dhaka.
Student movements have long played a central role in Bangladesh’s politics, from the 1952 language movement and the 1971 Liberation War to the protests that toppled military rule in 1990 and, most recently, the uprising that ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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