The student union elections in universities have made most of the political parties worried ahead of the parliamentary election as allegations of rigging in the polls at DUCSU and JUCSU have exposed conflicts among the student organisations associated with different parties.
The conflicting situation over the election atmosphere is also prevailing in other universities centering the upcoming election to the remaining student unions, including CUCSU and RUCSU.
Leaders of different political parties and political analysts think that the interim government should have skipped holding the elections on the campuses ahead of the general election as the conflict among the student organisations may affect the national polls.
At the same time, they also think that such elections marked with allegations of irregularities will create divisions among the antifascist organisations who joined the mass uprising together and will create unrest across the campuses causing sufferings for general students.
BNP Standing Committee Member AZM Zahid Hossain said questions have been raised over the neutrality of the recently held DUCSU and JUCSU elections while people want to regain trust in the electoral system.
"Concerned authorities should not organise an election that would raise questions among people, cause people to hesitate, and cause rival parties to withdraw from the election," he added.
Asked about their observation about the recently held DUCSU and JUCSU elections, BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu said, “An autocratic electoral system is different from a democratic one. Now we are seeing such an electoral atmosphere (in campuses) that has given rise to doubt whether it is autocratic.”
Talking to the media, Saiful Huq, general secretary of Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, said, “We fear that a group may make an evil effort to cash the campus elections to create influence in the upcoming national election.”
He said the campus elections usually do not influence the national election but this time it seems that the university campuses have been taken as arenas of political fights.
Bangladesh Liberal Democratic Party president Shahadat Hossain Selim said no election, except the national polls, should be held under the interim government. “A group could try to create a narrative centering these campus elections and disrupt the national polls.”
He further said the government should pay its full attention to holding the national election.
Syed Ehsanul Huda, president of Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, said, “People desiring to fish in troubled water may cash the campus elections to make an evil effort to ruin the atmosphere of the upcoming national polls. They will also try to spread propaganda by making narratives to mislead people.”
The Dhaka University Teachers’ Network has observed that there were some irregularities and mismanagement during this year’s Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election. The Jatiyabadi Chhatra Dal also termed the polls as “engineered”.
The long-awaited Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) and hall union elections were held on Thursday, but the day was marred by chaos, allegations of irregularities, and boycotts as five of the eight participating panels withdrew in protest.
The Chattogram University Central Students’ Union (CUCSU) Election Commission on Thursday held a views-exchange meeting with students on the draft electoral code of conduct for the 2025 CUCSU and hall union elections. However, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal staged a walkout, alleging they were not given enough time and opportunity to ask questions.
Various allegations of irregularities and lack of atmosphere also have been reported centering on the upcoming Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU) election.
Sources at political parties said failing to realise the demand of holding the local government elections before the next national election, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies appointed their student organisations to hold the student union election to establish their supremacy in the campuses.
Political analysts said the interim government shouldn’t have arranged the campus elections before the parliamentary polls as conflict between the winner and defeated groups will ruin the peaceful atmosphere at the campuses across the country, affecting the national politics and election.
In this situation, the conspirators who are hatching conspiracy against the country’s democracy will get a chance to deteriorate the situation further here, they added.
Talking to the media, Kazi Mohammad Mahbobor Rahman, political analyst and a professor at the Department of Political Science of Dhaka University, said student union elections should not have been arranged before the national election.
“The elections in the university campuses marred with different allegations of irregularities and rigging will create division among the antifascist student groups and ruin the peaceful atmosphere of the campuses,” he added.
BNP insiders said the party’s standing committee in its meeting held on Wednesday night discussed the DUCSU election and reviewed the overall situation.
In the meeting, the party policymakers decided to closely observe the situation of all the student union elections of the country and try to find out any special motive of any group behind the polls.
Courtesy: Daily Sun.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
