Bangladesh: Experts fear rise in radicalisation after Jamaat-backed panel sweeps univ elections

Dhaka: Odommo Jobian Oikko, a panel backed by radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, has registered a landslide victory, securing 16 of the 21 posts – including those of Vice-President (VP), General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary (AGS) – in the just-concluded Bangladesh’s Jagannath University Central Students Union (JnUCSU) elections, the local media reported on Thursday.

The student wings of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chhatra Dal and the Gono Odhikar Parishad, Chhatra Odhikar Parishad-backed panel ‘Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian’ panel managed to win only five posts.

The election results were officially announced in the early hours of Thursday by JnUCSU Chief Election Commissioner Mostafa Hasan, leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported.

Riazul Islam of the ‘Odommo Jobian Oikko’ panel won the post of VP with 5,558 votes, defeating his closest rival, AKM Rakib of the Chhatra Dal-backed panel ‘Oikkoboddho Nirbhik Jobian’, who received 4,688 votes.

Abdul Alim Arif secured the GS post with 5,475 votes, beating Chhtra-Dal-backed candidate Khadizatul Kubra, who secured 2,023 votes. Masud Rana won the post of AGS with 5,020 votes, while his rival, Chhatra Dal-backed candidate Atikul Islam Tanzil, received 4,022 votes.

Earlier, Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed candidates won the majority of posts in student union and hall union elections at several universities, including Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, and Chittagong University, and also dominated the first-ever JnUCSU election.

In September last year, several student leaders rejected the results of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election, calling them a “planned fraud” as the Chhatra Shibir’s Shadik Kayem had been elected Vice President (VP), local media reported.

Shibir candidates Abu Shadik Kayem were elected Vice President, SM Farhad general secretary, and Mohiuddin Khan assistant general secretary (AGS).

Several candidates raised allegations of electoral irregularities during the election. Abidul Islam Khan, the BNP-backed Vice President candidate, and independent candidate Umama Fatema, along with leaders from other panels, boycotted the election.

They claimed that the Shibir alliance won the polls with the support of the university administration.

Bangladesh’s Awami League party has accused “Muhammad Yunus-backed” Dhaka University authorities of pre-filling ballots to hand victory to “Pakistan-backed Chhatra Shibir”.

Calling the election a farce, the party alleged that voters who arrived to cast their ballots were handed slips with votes already marked in the names of Shibir-backed candidates SM Farhad and Shadiq Kayem.

Critics warn that the resurgence of Jamaat-backed candidates in Bangladesh student body elections across universities could lead to a potential rise in radicalisation among youth.

IANS