Once banned Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed panel wins Jahangirnagar University students’ union poll in Bangladesh

A year after it was banned, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, won a major university poll in Bangladesh on Saturday (September 13, 2025).

With this victory at the Jahangirnagar University located near the capital Dhaka, Shibir now has two of the most important university campuses under its control in Bangladesh. On September 10, Shibir swept the Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) election.

The victory of the Islami Chhatra Shibir in the DUCSU polls was welcomed by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. The victory of the Shibir-backed panel in Jahangirnagar University was welcomed by Shafikur Rahman, Ameer of Jamaat in Bangladesh, on Saturday (September 13, 2025), who said, “Today a big responsibility has been placed on the students. Hope they will give the highest importance to preserving our trust.” Shibir was banned by the Sheikh Hasina-led government in the first week of August 2024 before her government fell in the student-people uprising on August 5, 2024. The ban was lifted by the interim government.

The student union polls in Bangladesh have attracted attention as they are coming just five months ahead of the February 2026 election in Bangladesh amidst growing pressure from the Islamists to exclude political parties like deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. The elections in Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University are expected to be followed by polls in the universities in Rajshahi, Chittagong and other universities where Shibir’s victory is expected to create positive sentiment in favour of the Shibir candidates.

The victory in the student union polls is also adding to the overall political dynamics in Bangladesh, with the Islamist-led eight-party grouping deciding on a joint plan of action ahead of the election that was announced by Chief Adviser Prof. Mohammed Yunus earlier on August 5.

Bangladesh’s leading daily, Prothom Alo, on Saturday (September 13, 2025), reported that Jamaat-e-Islami, the interim government-backed National Citizen Party (NCP), Charmonai Peer-led Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Khelafat Majlis, Gono Odhikhar Parishad, Amaar Bangladesh Party (a moderate splinter group of Jamaat), and Bangladesh Nezam–e–Mustafa have started demanding that the next election in Bangladesh should be based on “proportionate representation” – the PR system – so that “all parties get a level field”.

The grouping is expected to demand that the July Declaration, as announced by Prof. Yunus on August 5, should be the leading document of the modern Bangladesh state.

One of the key demands that is expected to be announced on Sunday (September 14, 2025) by the eight-party grouping centres around banning 14 political parties that were associated with deposed PM Sheikh Hasina from contesting the next election.

Awami League’s political activities have been banned by the interim government since last October, though the party continues to hold on to its strongholds like Gopalganj, where its cadre fought a pitched street battle with the interim government-backed National Citizens Party on July 16.

The eight-party grouping has also demanded that the Jatiyo Party, which was once led by the late President Hossein Mohammed Ershad, should be banned from participating in the polls for being “allies of Fascism.”