The announcement of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election schedule has faced severe criticism from student organizations due to the lack of adequate reforms in decentralization of power.
Student leaders from Dhaka University (DU) have expressed their concerns to Times of Bangladesh, saying that the election should be held only after implementing sufficient reforms, particularly in the decentralization of administrative powers. They argue that without these reforms, the election will fail to ensure complete student representation and will not serve its intended purpose.
According to them, while decision-making power has been moved from the ‘unelected Vice-Chancellor’ to the Syndicate, which still does not include student representatives, the administrative dominance over DUCSU will remain unchanged.
The DU administration, however, claims that they have approved all the reform proposals that are urgent and legally possible within the current framework, but they assert that not all demands can be implemented immediately.
On Tuesday, Professor Mohammad Jasim Uddin, the chief returning officer for the election, announced the election schedule.
Voting will take place on 9 September, with a total of 39,932 voters, including 20,904 male voters and 19,028 female voters. The draft voter list was published on Wednesday in the DU halls, and objections to the list can be raised until 8 August, with the final list due for release on 11 August.
The nomination papers will be distributed from 12 August to 18 August, and the last date for submission will be 19 August. After verification, the preliminary candidate list will be published on 21 August, with the final list being announced on 25 August. Voting will take place from 8 am to 3 pm on the election day, and results will be announced the same day.
The demand for the DUCSU election became more prominent after the July 2024 uprising, which followed the quota reform movement. As part of a ‘fair and participatory’
electoral process, the university administration accepted student organizations’ proposals to amend the Daksu charter. However, student organizations claim that key
reform proposals have not yet been implemented.
Nahiduzzaman Shipon, General Secretary of the Dhaka University branch of the Nationalist Students’ Party, told Times of Bangladesh, “We presented the reform proposals once again at the meeting where the election schedule was announced and hoped that the administration would reconsider the crucial issues.”
Mohammaduddin Khan, General Secretary of the Dhaka University branch of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, criticized the concentration of power in the hands of unelected individuals within Daksu.
He said this undermines the democratic process of DUCSU.
Saikat Arif, General Secretary of the Dhaka University branch of the Student Federation, noted that although some of the student organizations’ proposals were accepted in the draft charter, the final decision-making power still lies with the Vice-Chancellor, thus preserving the administration’s dominance over DUCSU.
Mojammel Haque, Convener of the Socialist Students’ Front at DU, mentioned that while some proposals were included in the draft charter, the Vice-Chancellor still holds significant power. He said that the culture of administrative control over DUCSU remains intact.
DU Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed told Times of Bangladesh that certain reform proposals require constitutional amendments, which can only be approved by Parliament, and therefore cannot be implemented immediately. He assured that the administration had included all feasible proposals that were within its authority.
With this standoff between student organizations and the administration, the DUCSU election is set to take place on 9 September.
For the first time in the history of DUCSU elections, voting will be held at six centers outside the residential halls. Students from the 2019-2020 session and current students will be eligible to run as candidates and vote. The last DUCSU election was held in 2019.