Chhatra Shibir reclaims CUCSU after 44 years

After 44 long years, Islami Chhatra Shibir has once again regained leadership of the Chittagong University Central Students’ Union (CUCSU). Candidates from the Shibir -backed panel Sampreetir Shikkharthi Jote have been elected to 24 posts, including vice president (VP) and general secretary (GS).

The Election Commission announced the results of the seventh CUCSU election at around 4:30am on Thursday.

In the VP race, Md Ibrahim Hossain of Chhatra Shibir won with 7,983 votes. He is the president of the organisation’s Chattogram city south unit and an MPhil student in the Department of History. His closest rival, Sazzad Hossain of the Chhatra Dal panel, received 4,374 votes.

For the GS post, Saeed Bin Habib, also from the Shibir panel, was elected with 8,031 votes. He is the literary secretary of the university unit of Chhatra Shibir and a postgraduate student in the History Department. His nearest competitor, Md Shafayat of Chhatra Dal, secured 2,734 votes.

Chief Election Commissioner Professor Monir Uddin, while announcing the results, said that the election was held in a peaceful and competitive atmosphere, with candidates and voters participating in a festive mood.

Elections were held for 26 positions in total. Of these, only one position was won by a Chhatra Dal panel candidate — Ayubur Rahman, who secured the post of assistant general secretary (AGS) with 7,014 votes. His nearest rival, Sazzat Hossain of the Shibir panel, got 5,045 votes. In addition, Tamanna Mahbub, a female student, won the post of assistant games and sports secretary.

The last time Chhatra Shibir won the CUCSU election was in 1981, when Jasim Uddin Sarkar became VP and Abdul Gaffar became GS — both were then leaders of the university’s Shibir unit. After a gap of 44 years, Shibir-backed candidates have once again returned to CUCSU’s leadership.

Since the 1980s, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, had a significant influence at Chittagong University. However, during the Awami League government (now banned) in 2014, the organisation lost control of the campus.

After nearly a decade of silence, Shibir returned to open politics on 5 August, 2024. Less than a year later, its resounding victory in the CUCSU election has sparked wide discussion across the campus.

So far, CUCSU elections have been held only seven times — in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1981, 1990, and now in 2025.

Shibir first won the CUCSU election in 1981. In the following 1990 election, it lost to the Sarbadalio Chhatra Oikkya, an alliance of different progressive student organisations.

For more than three decades, no CUCSU election was held, and this vital platform for student politics remained inactive.

Now, CUCSU has received a new generation of leadership through the votes of today’s students. Several first-time voters said it was their first experience of democratic practice since they weren’t able to vote in the national election.