Shibir-backed candidates Shadik, Farhad elected Ducsu VP, GS

For the first time since Bangladesh’s independence, a panel backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir swept the Ducsu polls, marking a dramatic shift in campus politics.

Shibir-backed candidates Abu Shadik Kayem was elected vice president, SM Farhad general secretary, and Mohiuddin Khan assistant general secretary (AGS).

The results were declared from the Senate Bhaban of the Dhaka University. Here are the detailed final results.

Shadik won 14,042 votes while his nearest candidate Abidul Islam Khan, from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal-backed panel, got 5,708.

Besides, independent VP candidate Umama Fatema got 3,389 votes.

GS candidate Farhad got 10,794 votes.

Thousands of Dhaka University students cast their votes in the Ducsu and hall union elections, held yesterday amid festivity and excitement following a six-year hiatus.

Both Shadik and Farhad contested the polls under “Oikyaboddho Shikkharthi Jote” panel. Shadik was immediate past president of Shibir’s DU unit while Farhad currently holds the post.

Meanwhile, Abidul and Umama have already rejected the Ducsu election.

Abidul said he anticipated “this rigged result shortly after noon. Keep the figures as you wish. I reject this planned farce.”

Umama Fatema, in her Facebook post at 3:24am said, “Boycott! Boycott! I hereby reject Ducsu.” “A shamelessly rigged election. After August 5, the Dhaka University administration has brought shame upon the nation. An administration run by Shibir loyalists,” she said.

Seventy-eight percent out of total 39,775 voters cast their votes across eight designated centres on the campus, according to the Returning Office.

Both the Shibir leaders — Shadik and Farhad — were active participants in the student-led July mass uprising that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5 last year.

Leaders of Shibir, which had been virtually banned from the Dhaka University campus following the fall of HM Ershad, began appearing openly on campus just a month after the uprising.

At that time, Shadik and Farhad, who had previously operated under the guise of Chhatra League activists, publicly revealed their identities as the president and general secretary of Shibir’s DU unit.

Since independence, the Ducsu elections have been held eight times. No result was announced in 1973 polls due to the snatching of ballot boxes after the polls.

Panels backed by leftist student organisations won top two positions in 1972, 1979, 1980, and 1982 polls. Chhatra League won the VP position in 1989, while a leftist won the GS position. Chhatra Dal won the 1990 polls. Quota movement leader won the VP position while Chhatra league won the GS position in the 2019 polls.

After the fall of Ershad in 1990, Paribesh Parishad, a platform comprising DU authorities and student representatives, slapped a ban on the activities of Shibir, the student organisation backed by Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that actively opposed Bangladesh’s independence struggle and sided with the Pakistan army during the Liberation War. Members of Shibir’s predecessor — Islami Chattra Shangha — formed Al-Badr and were involved in the 1971 killings of Bangalee intellectuals including teachers or Dhaka University towards the end of the war.